Watford's Mayor has stressed the need for "cultural change" rather than more CCTV after the death of Sarah Everard triggered a debate on the area's safety.

Peter Taylor said he was “absolutely appalled” by the death of the 33-year-old marketing executive who went missing while walking home from a friend’s flat on March 3.

During a virtual Watford Borough Council meeting last night (March 16), the Mayor said it was important “that we are looking at doing everything we can to ensure everyone’s safety when they are walking across the town”.

He was also quizzed by councillors about the ways the town could be made safer – Labour councillor Favour Ezefedi asked how the council plans to show a cultural change in how men are treated and to ensure women are safe.

Mr Taylor said: “I think far too often this is seen as a women’s issue, but it is actually an issue for the whole of society and we need to make sure we are having conversations with our daughters but perhaps even more importantly with our sons about respectful relationships and about the need to tackle harassment, violence and inappropriate behaviour wherever we see it.”

Cllr Ezefedi’s colleague, Cllr Matt Turmaine, also asked if Mr Taylor will do “everything in his power” to secure the council’s share of an additional £25million fund for better street lighting and CCTV, with Watford having a “higher level of anti-social behaviour than some areas of Hertfordshire”.

Mr Taylor said he will be looking to see if Watford can access some of the funding but felt having more CCTV cameras would not be the “solution”.

He said: “We have hundreds of CCTV cameras in Watford and actually I don’t believe that ultimately the solution to this is having thousands of CCTV cameras in Watford.

“I think Cllr Ezefedi put her finger on it when she said it is about cultural change, it is about changing behaviour of people and we have work to do on that.

“So, I will look at the fund and I will always look at ways we can improve Watford. But I think we have got to be clear that CCTV alone will not solve these issues, it is part of the solution but we need to do much more than that and that’s about educating everyone about respectful relations, so we don’t see harassment, intimidation or violence on our street or anywhere in Watford.”