THE number of CCTV cameras controlled by Hampshire councils has swelled to at least 2,686, a privacy watchdog has revealed.

A study by Big Brother Watch named Portsmouth City Council as the most intrusive authority in the country with the largest network of CCTV cameras alongside Nottinghamshire.

Its survey revealed Portsmouth council was using 1,454 cameras - four times as many as Southampton City Council, with 339, and more than all other Hampshire councils put together. Winchester City Council controls 104 cameras, Fareham council has 75, and Eastleigh has 74.

Big Brother Watch warned councils were creating enormous surveillance networks at great expense with only "sketchy" evidence CCTV deterred or solved crimes.

Numbers of council cameras had trebled in the past decade, the watchdog said.

But it said the quality of the footage was commonly too poor to be used in courts, the cameras were often turned off to save money and control rooms were rarely manned 24-hours-a-day.

Director of Big Brother Watch Alex Deane said: "With crime on the increase, it is understandable that some people want more CCTV, but we would all feel safer with more police on the beat, there would be fewer crimes and those crimes that do occur would be solved faster."

Southampton City Council's community safety boss Councillor Royston Smith said: "It's a balance between community safety and erosion of civil liberties.

"We think we have the balance about right making our residents feel safer while not being overly intrusive."

Portsmouth City Council said CCTV made residents and visitors feel safer and played an important role in deterring and convicting criminals, with over 18,905 arrests made in the city in the past 13 years where cameras have collected evidence for prosecution.