Waipa District Council has deferred the installation of closed circuit television cameras in the central business districts of Te Awamutu and Cambridge, and there's some debate whether they are needed at all.

Garry Dyet, chief executive of the council, said the project had been raised again by police.

"The possibility of CCTV has been a project on our books for some time. We have allocated $200,000; the impact on next year's rates is $5000 and then there's ongoing operational costs.

"The CCTV project was to have been loan funded so the $5000 was to fund the $200,000. Operating costs are those associated with monitoring and operating the CCTV network."

Cr Hazel Barnes said the Waipa district was a safe place to live because of the regular community safety patrols at night.

Cr George Simmons, who is involved in the night patrols, said there had been a noticeable decline in what he called "mischief crime".

"We haven't got the broken windows in the main street like we used to have a few years ago."

Cr Joe Scaramuzza said as CCTV in the CBDs would benefit businesses they could fund it.

"It would be a very small fee for individual businesses."

Mr Dyet said it was to be funded by a general rate, but the council could change that.

The project will be reconsidered as part of the 2015/25 Long Term Plan process.

- © Fairfax NZ News