A petition containing more than 500 signatures has been presented to the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner in a bid to over-turn the decision to pull the plug on CCTV funding.

Llanelli MP Nia Griffith along with Tycroes councillor and Labour's parliamentary candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, Calum Higgins, handed the petition into the office of Commissioner Christopher Salmon on Monday.

Mr Salmon’s decision to stop backing live-monitoring of CCTV cameras in the cameras – which had been jointly funded by police and Carmarthenshire County Council – caused uproar in January after the commissioner claimed it was of little value.

His decision to pull the plug of the scheme further infuriated residents and local authority chiefs after it came in the wake of the decision to cut the police precept – the amount each household in the force area pays to cover the cost of day-to-day policing – along with the revelation that Dyfed-Powys Police had more than £42million in unspent reserves.

Following the commissioner’s announcement that he would no longer authorise payment for live-monitoring, Carmarthenshire County Council also withdrew its share of the funding saying it was being expected to cover the entire cost of what was seen as a joint-working scheme.

The petition, handed in by Ms Griffiths and Mr Higgins, has called on Mr Salmon to reconsider his decision to withdraw funding for the live monitoring of cameras in Llanelli, Ammanford, Burry Port and Carmarthen.

Ms Griffith said: "The Police Commissioner should not be putting people at risk by cutting the CCTV monitoring, while trying to portray himself as the great hero who is reducing the police portion of the council tax by five per cent which amounts to a mere ten pence a week for a Band D property, hardly enough to solve the cost of living crisis.

“Moreover by picking on the CCTV monitoring which is jointly funded by the police and the county council, he is deliberately putting the council in an impossible position, knowing that they are in no position to pick up his share of the costs when they have their own very difficult budget decisions to make."

Cllr Higgins added: "The Tories have their priorities wrong on policing.

“This week they have decided to close the helicopter base, which comes at the same time as cuts to CCTV monitoring and a pre-election tax giveaway of pennies a week from the Tory Police and Crime Commissioner.

“The Conservatives clearly have their priorities wrong and this just adds weight to the Labour Party commitment to abolish Police and Crime Commissioners and invest in the front line."