SALISBURY'S CCTV network is manned once again after Wiltshire Council laid-off the staff operating the control room in August.

The first group of six volunteers has been trained to use te equipment and received their certificates on Monday.

Salisbury Business Improvement District (BID) joined forces with the city council and the police to save the service in September.

They all gave £25,000 and formed Salisbury Citywatch to run the system with a mix of trained volunteers and paid staff.

BID business manager Steve Godwin has been leading the operation.

He said: "This is a wonderful day for Salisbury and in being able to recruit and train our first six volunteers, we are well on our way to being able to restore a service, which is highly demanded by police, retail businesses, the late night economy and the public in our city.

"We all understand that CCTV helps to keep us safe and in being able to develop a volunteer led service, the community is taking an interest in its own safety.

"We are working closely with all of our partners and although at times, the relationship has seemed to be difficult, we are that point of cautious optimism.

"Wiltshire Council have generously offered the city a brand new state of the art digital CCTV service due to be commissioned and installed before the end of the year.

"The volunteer operator scheme will continue with the new system. It is good to see a real example of Salisbury clearly working well in partnership under the new city consortium, Citywatch, all aimed at public protection and facilitated by BID."