SPENDING on CCTV and Wycombe Museum should be cut, residents said in an online survey.

Yet council bosses have already agreed a costly CCTV upgrade – and say residents do “not understand” its value.

Wycombe District Council should boost spending on tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, recycling and sports centres, survey respondents said.

But they want no net increase or decrease in council tax. The survey was held to inform what the council spends next year.

See the links at the bottom of this story for the full survey results.

Threatened Wycombe Museum should be hardest hit, respondents said, with eight per cent of the 626 who responded calling for a maximum 25 per cent cut.

It comes as the council considers moving the attraction and selling its Priory Avenue, High Wycombe premises to reduce its £318,000 a year running costs.

Most of those who left a comment, 24, called for axed Holywell Mead outdoor swimming pool to be re-opened. The council claimed it was under-used and cost too much.

Yet the facility was not mentioned the final 48-page report to WDC.

Others called for changes at the council. One wrote: “Just like the private sector you should reduce your/our spending by at least five percent each year but increase your productivity.”

The results show:

• The “clear majority [wants] to keep spending the same” and it was “far more likely” people want “severe cuts” than “large rises”.

• The most popular spending increase, 40 per cent of people, wanted more spent on tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

• 25 per cent want more spent on rubbish collection and recycling.

• A quarter want more spent on sports centres. A project to rebuild Wycombe Sports Centre is on hold because of the credit crunch.

• Most, 35 per cent, wanted CCTV spending cut.

• Cash for disabled home adaptations for private homes (33 per cent) and WDC information centres (32 per cent) should also be cut, they said.

• Wycombe Museum got the most calls for a maximum 25 per cent cash reduction, eight per cent of respondents.

Deputy leader Councillor Tony Green said “efficiency savings” were being sought over CCTV.

Yet he said: “The problem is that CCTV is one of those services the public probably don’t understand that well. They see the cameras but not what they do.”

Despite the call for savings, the council agreed last month to a digital CCTV upgrade.

Cllr Green said this “significant” cost was needed as the 1990s system was obsolete. He said: “It will bring savings in the long-term”.

Yet he said it was “ironic” that more called for crime-fighting cash as CCTV helps police.

The council had to provide disabled grants by law, he said, and the museum was too far from the town and does not meet disability access laws.

And he said of the pool: “I don’t think the responses are particularly significant – it shows what we have always suspected, that not many people use it.”

He pledged to act on responses. “That is the whole point of consultation, that we use it to help drive decisions.”

But Labour group leader Councillor Margaret Draper questioned the museum findings.

Councillor Draper said: “You have a small sample there. The people I talk to are as passionate about the museum as they are about the pool.”

Moving the Grade II listed museum would be “diabolical”, she said. Cllr Draper backed CCTV and urged: “Spend, don’t cut.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Brian Pollock was unavailable for comment.

The consultation was online for the first time. Cllr Green said it was WDC’s biggest ever response.

The online survey – advertised with a banner across the council’s High Wycombe offices – gave users about £15m to “spend”. The final council budget is about £80m.