BIG brother is watching you in Tenbury.

Tenbury Town Council is buying hidden cameras to keep an eye on what people are doing in the town centre.

The cameras are likely to be in use within the next few weeks.

It is likely that they will be deployed when the waste disposal facility on the town council car park closes for the last time on Saturday (February 13).

The facility is moving to the Bromyard Road Industrial Estate.

It will be open three days instead of two and will offer a wider range of facilities.

But Tenbury Town Council fears that some people will still turn up at the car park and finding that the waste disposal facility has moved will still leave rubbish.

But Tenbury’s town clerk Dawn Worgan warns that they may find that they are being watched.

The new site will open on Thursday, February 18.

It will be very similar to the one at Leominster with easy drive-up access to containers and a much wider range of items accepted for recycling. Help will be on hand for those who visit the site on foot.

All of Tenbury's recycling facilities will now be concentrated on one site which means that spaces can be freed up on Palmers Meadow car park as soon as the old site is dismantled.

Items that can be disposed of include batteries, bric a brac, books/CD/DVD, cans, car batteries, cooking oil, engine oil, fluorescent tubes, foil, fridges and freezers, garden waste, gas bottles, glass, hardcore and rubble, low energy light bulbs, mobile phones, plasterboard, plastic bottles, plastic pots, tubs and trays, ink jet printer cartridges, scrap metal, soil, televisions, tyres, small electrical appliances, wood, general waste (including water-based paints).

Residents will be able to use the new site on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays between 8am and 6pm.

As a result of the closure of the site in the town centre, an additional 20 parking spaces will be available taking the capacity to 110 vehicles.

The cameras will be the type that are used to follow wildlife and therefore will be camouflaged and can be operated automatically with the recorded material stored on an electronic chip.

Cameras will also be used in the battle against people who allow their dogs to foul and fail to clean up.

Evidence from the cameras can be used in evidence against people who allow their dogs to mess and do not clean up after them.

But the decision to buy the two cameras does not mean that the town council has abandoned the idea of asking Malvern Hills District Council for permission to introduce a by-law to curb the problem.

The by-law would require people to keep their dogs on a lead in the vicinity of the sports fields and children’s playing areas.

“The cameras will be mobile and therefore can be moved to deal with particular issues," said Dawn Worgan.

“There was a camera provided by Malvern Hills District Council but the town council decided that it wanted its own cameras so that it had flexibility and could decide where they are positioned.”