COUNCIL chiefs have responded to a rise in violent crime in Darlington town centre by making a major investment in security.

The borough council is investing £200,000 in providing nine new closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

Six are to be installed in the Stanhope Park and college areas, while a further three will be put in place on High Northgate.

The move follows the authority's recent announcement that an extra 12 monitors would be installed in the town hall control room.

Within the next few weeks, there will be 33 screens operational in the control room, being monitored 24 hours a day by staff.

Stephen Harker, the council's cabinet member for community safety, said: "Darlington's CCTV coverage has gone from strength to strength.

"This has been reflected in the results, with over 3,000 arrests being made with the help of town centre cameras and car park crime at an all-time low."

The extra provision of cameras in an already successful system comes just over a week after police announced a surge in cases of assault and criminal damage in the town centre.

There were more such crimes in the first eight months of this year than in the whole of 2001, although new Home Office rules on recording crime were part of the reason.

The CCTV system was first introduced in Darlington in 1994 and the latest investment means that more than £1.5m has been ploughed into the scheme.

Thirteen cameras are in place on the Firthmoor council estate and, as a result of a partnership with train operator GNER, 25 cameras cover the Bank Top area.

Crime has been cut by 40 per cent on the Firthmoor estate, which was the first residential area to benefit from CCTV when the cameras were switched on last June.