SURVEILLANCE cam eras are to be installed outside Bridport Town Council's Mountfield headquarters in a bid to halt increasing van dalism. Mayor Geoff Ackerman told members of the finance committee on Wednesday that the growing level of criminal damage around Mountfield made the intro duction of CCTV a "top pri ority". Backing his call county councillor Sandra Brown said: "I am beginning to feel very concerned about what's going on up here and the sooner we get the camera up the better." Town surveyor Bernard Paull told the committee that West Dorset Crime and Disorder Reduction Partner- ship had offered to provide a mobile pan and tilt CCTV camera for use at Mountfield. It would be simple to install and the town council's only cost would be to retrieve and process the data. The extent of this would depend on the number of incidents they had to deal with, he said. Town clerk Ron Gregory said that in the meantime other measures were being taken to make life more dif ficult for the Mountield van dals. Mr Gregory said: "We are going to put in more roses with nice big thorns. "We have also moved the seat away from the front door because they tend to congre gate around there. "We are also going to cut down some of the bushes so that there are no little hide holes for the vandals." Mr Paull said in addition they were considering put ting up full height lanterns to replace the low level light ing bollards. He said the council had spent an awful lot of money repairing them. The committee agreed to take tough action after hear ing that vandalism and anti- social behaviour at Bridport has increased by 100 per cent this year. The town's hard-pressed council tax payers faced a £36,000 repair bill - around £12 a head, Mr Paull report ed at an earlier meeting. And there was a human cost, too. "At times it can affect staff morale who, as staff, take great pride in their work only to see it damaged or undone," he added.