CIVIL liberties campaigners have slammed the soaring number of Big Brother-style spy cameras.

Research carried out by Big Brother Watch claims the number of council-run CCTV cameras in Britain has trebled to almost 60,000 in the last decade.

Clacton's first spy cameras were put up in the town centre 13 years ago.

There were just five in the resort in 1997, but the number across Tendring has now soared to more than 100.

Vandalism and public disorder offences plummeted when cameras were first used in Walton ten years ago.

The cameras are operated by Tendring Council from a hi-tech central control centre at a secret location with a link-up to Clacton police station.

Staff monitoring the screens can immediately alert officers to incidents and potential trouble.

Big Brother Watch director Alex Deane claims the ability of CCTV systems to deter or solve crimes was "sketchy at best".

But Tendring Council says its CCTV system has provided "valuable evidence" to the police on a number of occasions.

Spokesman Nigel Brown said they also acted as a deterrent and were a valuable tool for helping to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour across the district.

There are a total of 141 cameras in the Colchester Council-run network, equivalent to 0.9 cameras per 1,000 residents. The rate in Tendring is 0.8.