COUNCIL officials have rendered a village CCTV system useless, by installing a security camera next to a tree.

Plans to fell the 100-year-old tree have been put on hold, after it emerged that a colony of endangered bats could be using it as a roost.

Two closed-circuit cameras supposed to monitor crime and disorder in the village of Delves Lane, near Consett, have been rendered inoperable due to the error.

If bats are found in the tree, the council cannot touch it - and will have to uproot the camera.

Tony Westgarth, chairman of Delves Lane Community Association, said: "This CCTV system has been a total waste of our money and is of no use at all to us. Whether there are bats or not still doesn't explain why they put a camera next to a tree in the first place."

The cameras were installed at the beginning of this year, as part of Derwentside District Council's pledge to put three units in each of its wards.

The camera outside Delves Lane School is obstructed by the tree. A second, in Briardale, is also ineffective, because it cannot receive a relay signal from the school camera.

The only operational unit in the village is in Old Hall Road.

Mr Westgarth uncovered the farce after receiving dozens of enquiries about the system from residents.

"It is completely crazy," he said. "All they had to do to avoid this was put it up a few yards down the road, outside the post office."

The tree is the responsibility of Durham County Council, which initially agreed to cut it down.

Workers were due to move in three months ago, when villagers warned the authority that bats used the tree.

An independent bat expert was called in, but her report was inconclusive.

She is scheduled to come back for a night visit to determine whether the tree is a bat roost.

Alex Watson, leader of the district council, said: "The county assured us the tree would come down three months ago.

"We want it sorted out and are pushing for swift action, but their hands are tied because of the bats."

A spokesman for Durham County Council said: "There are severe legal restrictions on what can be done to an active bat roost."