Malmesbury Town Council has announced it is progressing in its quest for CCTV in the town centre and at the Station Yard car park.

It is envisaged that there will be between five and seven cameras in the town to combat anti-social behaviour.

Town clerk Phil Rice said he was meeting contractors to prepare a paper for the town council.

He hopes to present it at the full council meeting on November 9.

He said: "I have two meetings in the next two weeks and have met another contractor.

"I have been asked to present a paper to the town council and whatever happens after that will be positive.

"Obviously as soon as I have a costing the council can decide what they want to explore."

There have been suggestions Malmesbury could use Wootton Bassett's manned facilities but Mr Rice said it would be a decision for the town council.

He said: "We have been looking at Wootton Bassett's initiative but there seems to be lots of enhancements in the way CCTV is delivered and one or two of the systems we are looking at may not require the use of Wootton Bassett's facilities.

"Until we know what potential suppliers can do it's too early to say.

"If the town council agree, it needs to be looked at extremely seriously, which may give me other initiatives and systems to look at.

"At the moment CCTV and the way it is delivered is changing all the time."

Mike Cutman, manager of Wootton Bassett's CCTV systems, said he attended a North Wiltshire District Council meeting last month to explain CCTV was a good idea.

He added Wootton Bassett's system, which cost around £230,000 to set up with an 18-television control centre, had worked extremely well and would welcome Malmesbury if it wanted to link up.

"It's all in place at Wootton Bassett. It doesn't matter where the control room is. You can beam pictures with the technology."

Mr Cutman said with a manned control room like at Wootton Bassett "you can be proactive rather than reactive".

"It's worked incredibly well. Any resident will tell you it's changed.

"We still have fights and broken windows, but nowhere near as many," he said.

Malmesbury Mayor Coun Patrick Goldstone said: "We are actively investigating CCTV for the town. We will be meeting with contractors to have a look at it next week.

"We actively started looking at it this year and myself and the town clerk have been pushing it like mad.

"It's not a cheap operation and we are hopeful that the alcohol exclusion zone will come in soon."

Coun Goldstone said: "There has been a problem with underage drinking and some vandalism.

"During the hot summer of last year it was particularly bad and there's certainly a degree of hooliganism and any degree we don't want. We are trying to make the town better for everybody."

Coun Judy Jones, who chaired a town council review group whose survey found CCTV was wanted, said although she was in favour of CCTV in principle, the town council had to be sure it was needed in Malmesbury.

"I think we need to consider it but not rush into it." she said

Chairman of Chamber of Commerce Alan Woodward, who owns a jewellers in the High Street, said he welcomed the news.

"It's been a long time coming but I am glad the council is at least thinking about it.

"There's money around and I am hopeful they will tap into it.

"We back it because it's been very successful in Wootton Bassett."