New controversy has emerged over the use of Chinese-made CCTV cameras on UK streets, including across Richmond borough.

An official watchdog has said that while attention has focussed on the discovery China's spy balloons criss-crossing the world, there is a far more immediate threat closer to home.

The Biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, Fraser Sampson, said the evidence of a new survey found that British police forces are 'shot through' with Chinese cameras, drones and other surveillance equipment.

In fact, several local authorities, including Richmond Borough Council, have also installed dozens of cameras from the same Chinese sources.

According to the watchdog, several police forces use camera systems from companies surrounded by security or ethical concerns - including Dahua, Hikvision, Honeywell, Huawei and Nuuo.

Richmond Council - in partnership with Wandsworth Council - has a five-year contract worth £1.3m to use surveillance systems created by Dahua Technology.

The deal includes the establishment of a joint control room which records all the images collected by the cameras. The resulting images can be viewed by the police.

Dahua, which is China's second-largest surveillance equipment maker, is banned from selling its cameras in the USA on the basis of claims they create a security risk.

It is reported that the company's camera systems have been used by the police in China to monitor the oppressed Uyghur population. This has been denied by the manufacturer.

The American organisation IVMP, who are experts in CCTV, has stated that the deal with Richmond and Wandsworth Councils raises risks, however this has been denied.

It reported: "A project this large is significant for Dahua, particularly outside of China, but risky for the local councils, given Dahua's poor human rights and cybersecurity track records."

The cybersecurity commissioner, Mr Sampson, said that organisations deploying the Chinese systems 'are generally aware that there are security and ethical concerns about the companies that supply their kit'.

He added: "There has been a lot in the news in recent days about how concerned we should be about Chinese spy balloons 60,000 feet up in the sky. I do not understand why we are not at least as concerned about the Chinese cameras six feet about our head in the street and elsewhere ...

"Myself and others have been saying for some time that we should, both for security and ethical reasons, really be asking ourselves whether it is ever appropriate for public bodies to use equipment made by companies with such serious questions hanging over them."

Richmond Council is controlled by the Lib-Dems. Last year the borough's two Lib-Dem MPs, Sarah Olney and Munira, signed a joint letter along with politicians for all other parties calling for a ban on camera systems such as those used in Richmond.

It stated: "We call for a ban on the sale and operation of Hikvision and Dahua surveillance equipment in the UK and condemn their involvement in technology-enabled human rights abuses in China. We call on the Government to commission an independent national review of the scale, capabilities, ethics and rights impact of modern CCTV in the UK."

Richmond Council insists there are strict controls and safeguards on how the Dahua cameras are used in the borough. It says they have no capability to carry out any sort of facial recognition.

Last year, it told Nub News: ""The Council takes all steps to ensure we are compliant with relevant legislation and guidance.

"The data owners remain the Council for all images recorded. We have processes in place to share the images with the police when required.

"The cameras themselves just capture the images - facial recognition would be done by recorders and servers, if they had facial recognition capabilities. The Council's network has no facial recognition capability."