A HIGH-TECH security camera system covering scores of units on a Billingham industrial estate will be officially re-opened on Monday by Cleveland's Chief Constable Barry Shaw.

It follows a £30,000 revamp to provide facilities for businesses based in Cowpen Lane.

A network of fibre-optic cables links more than a dozen cameras with a computerised control centre that provides continual monitoring and recording all over the estate.

In addition, improved communications have been set up between the night-shift security guards working at various premises.

Funding for the work has come from Stockton Borough Council and the Cowpen Industrial Association.

Chairman Mike Devereux said: "It has always been funded by companies on the estate and it has always been a big crime preventer. Over the years, however, the cameras and equipment became antiquated. Now we have a state-of-the-art facility. "

A monitoring station has also been set up on Mr Devereux's company site, which has the facility to simultaneously record and store images captured by all the security cameras during a seven-day period.