CCTV could be brought back into action in Cockermouth after a rise in town centre crime.

Almost 50 per cent more incidents were recorded in the centre of the town in the year to May than in the previous 12 months.

Town councillors are now looking into the cost of resurrecting or replacing some of the town’s CCTV cameras, which were switched off in 2012.

They agreed to pay £1,000 for a survey to assess the costs involved in installing and maintaining proposed cameras after Joe Broomfield, town centre manager for Allerdale council, said the crime figures justified their use.

Steve Bishop, chairman of Cockermouth and District Chamber of Trade, said: “Anything that can be added to provide additional security and peace of mind for everyone would be welcomed.

“We have got a great vibrant town and anything that can help support that is positive.”

A total of 123 crimes were recorded around Main Street, Station Street, Station Road, Low Road and South Street in 2015-16, compared with 84 the previous year.

Seventy-four crimes were recorded on Main Street in 2015-16 compared with 61 the previous year, a 21 per cent rise.

Of those, there were 23 assaults, 16 shoplifting offences and 11 incidents of causing fear, alarm or distress.

There was also an incident of malicious wounding, seven non- shoplifting theft incidents and a case of someone making off without paying.

Station Street saw its crime figures almost triple, with 20 incidents in the last year compared with seven the year before.

The most serious incident on Main Street in the last two years was the murder of Terence Taylor at the Globe Hotel in May 2015.

CCTV from inside the pub was used in the trial of his killer.

On Low Road, recorded crime went up from four incidents in 2014-15 to 10 last year, a 150 per cent increase.

In South Street there were nine incidents recorded in 2015-16 compared with one the previous year.

Station Road saw a slight drop, with 11 crimes recorded in 2014-15 and 10 the next year.

The town centre’s increase in crime bucked the trend across the town, which saw a 14 per cent drop in incidents recorded year on year.

There were 380 crimes recorded for Cockermouth as a whole in 2015-16, down from 443 the previous year.

Cockermouth’s Shopwatch group has previously written to the town council asking it to help get CCTV back in the town, which no longer has a fully operational police station.

The council is considering funding new CCTV from £15,000 provided by Allerdale council to support the town.

Allerdale’s town centre manager Joe Broomfield has met Cumbria police’s CCTV manager.

Cameras are in place but not operational on Main Street, Market Place and Station Street.

The survey will consider whether these could be used or if other cameras would be needed.

If cameras were put in there would be ongoing maintenance costs.

Mr Broomfield said: “The police have suggested they might want to charge for monitoring.

“Depending on what the survey says, for £15,000 we should be able to get one or possibly two cameras.”

Councillors said they could not make a decision until they knew exactly what costs were involved.

Councillor Eric Nicholson said: “A camera on the lampposts has got to be the way forward because we can then link up with the electric. I think we need a price for the cheaper option.”

Councillor Alan Smith said: “It’s a bit like buying a car, it’s all right buying it but then there’s all the costs of keeping it on the road.”