A TOWN council has been branded disgusting and deceitful after using ‘secret’, ‘camouflaged’ wildlife cameras to keep tabs on a major public event.

 

Witney Music Festival organisers were horrified to discover council workers removing cameras from trees days after the event’s finale, which was held on The Leys on Saturday.

 

Witney Town Council has said it uses cameras on The Leys, which it owns, to monitor anti-social behaviour– but police have said council staff told officers they were used to observe the event.

 

The incident follows a long-running feud between festival organisers and the council, predominantly around the issue of timings.

 

Controversy arose after the council told organisers the festival had to end by midnight, rather than 2am as organisers wanted.

 

Festival chairman Eric Marshall has called for anybody involved to resign.

 

He added: “I am absolutely disgusted that the town council should stoop to such underhand and deceitful methods.

 

“Our event on The Leys was run under a licence in my name and therefore under my jurisdiction. They have no more right to put cameras on The Leys during our event than a private landlord has the right to put secret cameras in a house he is letting out.

 

“It is an invasion of privacy and a waste of council tax payers’ money.

 

“The council has let the whole community down with this underhand behaviour.”

 

The council told the Oxford Mail that cameras are used on The Leys to monitor anti-social behaviour like littering and vandalism.

 

However, police, who were contacted by festival organisers after the discovery of the cameras, said: “We have contacted the council who explained that they put up cameras pointed at the main stage. The cameras take a photo every half hour –time stamped – and these were purely in case there were complaints that the festival went on longer than it should.”

 

The force said it appears no offence was committed.