SALISBURY'S CCTV control room is back to being monitored and manned by volunteers, more than two years after it closed.

An agreement between Salisbury City Council and Salisbury Citywatch, who will be operating out of the Bourne Hill control room, earlier this week.

Manager Richard Goodman will lead the team of volunteers, who will undergo training over the next six to eight weeks and begin to run the manned system.

In an email to city councillors, city clerk Annie Child confirmed the agreement had been finalised and that the system is "fully operational".

The city's CCTV cameras were switched on more than a year ago, in August 2017, and footage has been available to the police but the control room has been unmanned.

They had been off since the summer of 2016, when Wiltshire Council sold the control room to developers.

Wiltshire Council promised a new fibre-optic system worth £500,000, provided the city council paid for its upkeep, and assured there would be no “switch off” or gap in service.

But it was more than a year and several missed completion dates before the new system was finally installed.

The system has now been formally transferred to Salisbury City Council, who are the owners of the CCTV.

Salisbury City Council was approached for comment.