TWO village communities are celebrating a breakthrough in a lengthy battle against vandals after plans to install closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) were approved.

The Home Office has awarded a grant of more than £250,000 to help the parishes of Scotton and Hipswell, near Catterick Garrison, foil young thugs who have been terrorising the area.

Seven cameras are to be put in place and will focus on schools, play areas, car parks and residential areas, including accommodation for elderly people.

The images will be monitored by the Ministry of Defence, which has agreed to add the new units to its existing network watching the centre of Catterick Garrison.

The announcement of the £261,164 grant was welcomed by residents, who had been forced to call police out dozens of times in recent months to deal with incidents of vandalism.

Scotton Parish Council chairman, Pat Middlemiss, said young tearaways had been making life in the area a misery.

"They were targeting elderly people which was extremely sad. They were just going all over the place and you really couldn't say what they were going to do next," she said.

"We started work on the bid in December and we have got the funding now, which is great news."

The grant will cover the cost of installing five cameras in Scotton and two in Hipswell, where patience with the vandals had been wearing thin.

In just one night earlier this year, eggs were thrown at windows, plant pots were smashed and garden statues and an ornamental wall were pushed over. The windows at a village hall were smashed and a parish notice board was ripped from its mountings.

Home Office Minister John Denham, who has overall responsibility for crime reduction, said CCTV had repeatedly proved its effectiveness in tackling such vandalism.

"Knowing that there is an extra set of eyes watching over their communities helps to reassure people that they will be safe. It also acts as an important set of eyes for the police, providing valuable evidence where incidents occur," he said.