SECURITY at a Wirral park is to be tightened with new CCTV cameras installed due to the amount of vandalism, graffiti and criminal damage in the area.

The Grand Entrance to Birkenhead Park will soon see four new cameras installed to help prevent crime in an area of “high deprivation and poverty”.

Plans have been approved by Wirral council to attach the new equipment to the building on Park Drive, with the aim of also protecting the Grade II-listed structure.

The design and access statement submitted with the proposals said: “Given Birkenhead Park’s location in an area of high deprivation and relative poverty, the area frequently falls victim to petty vandalism, graffiti and criminal damage.

“The four proposed cameras on the Grand Entrance lodges will ensure additional security and protective measures of the Grade II* listed structure, and act as a deterrent to petty crime on those buildings and in the surrounding area of park.”

The plans were submitted on behalf of Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre, and added: “The cameras will face the lodge and into the park, connecting to a security unit inside each of the lodges, which will monitor the cameras.

“Birkenhead Park, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton is a Grade I Historic Park and was the world’s first public park, opened in 1847.

“The Grand Entrance is presented as the gateway into the Park, a Grade

II listed structure with a neo-Greek Classical Design, comprising of two lodge buildings joined by a series of arches.

“It has been designated as a Grade II listed historic structure by Historic England.”