Sutton Council's CCTV monitoring station could be moved to Croydon as the Met's new borough policing plans take shape, a council meeting heard.

The system, currently housed at Sutton police station in Carshalton Road, is monitored by officers but that could change “in a few months’ time”.

Cllr Ruth Dombey, the council’s leader, highlighted concerns during a scrutiny committee meeting on July 25.

She said: “In 2011, when the riots kicked off in Tottenham and in Croydon, most people aren’t aware that there were issues in Sutton as well. You’re not aware of it because it was handled so well and so quickly.

“What I’m saying is there can be serious incidents here in this borough and CCTV is absolutely vital because it means that police officers are able to prioritise.

“So a call that comes in saying it’s all kicking off in my street, the CCTV potentially can show the police officers that it’s a group of youngsters, they’re being a bit boisterous, but actually there isn’t a serious problem.

“Or, alternatively, there is a very serious problem and they need to get all their resources in."

The move, while for an “interim period”, would see Croydon’s CCTV feed switch to Sutton, however, no specific date was mentioned.

It comes as Bromley, Croydon, and Sutton become one of the last to be merged into a new borough command unit (BCU) next February.

Cllr Tony Shields asked whether the council leader could simply reject the plans but, while the council could stop it from being moved, the system is housed and monitored in Sutton police station.

He said: “£1.6 million a year goes into the Safer Sutton Partnership. If that doesn’t give you control or sway, I would ask you why you’re putting that amount of money into something we have no say in.

“I can’t see the payback for continuing to fund the police through the Safer Sutton Partnership, to such an extraordinary large amount of money, if we cannot retain the CCTV system in Sutton that we already pay for.”

Cllr Dombey agreed with Cllr Shields that it shouldn’t be moved to Croydon, but insisted that it “isn’t quite straightforward”.

She added: “If you have boroughs working in a different way, where they spend money differently, how can you then lift and shift everything into another place?

“If it is moved somewhere else and we lose it, we won’t be spending that money on CCTV anymore. That’s not my preferred option because we have a system that works and I don’t want to lose that.”