BUSINESSES in Stourport have invested thousands of pounds to install CCTV cameras across the town centre in a "ground-breaking" bid to combat criminals.

Ten cameras - as opposed to between three and six envisaged last summer - capable of reading car number plates have been positioned in four streets at a cost of around £900 each since the beginning of December.

It is the first town centre in Wyre Forest to have such a scheme.

Derek Fradgely, chairman of the Town Centre Management Forum, claimed the scheme was unique.

"Working with police nine businesses paid about £600 each to install cameras which cover 30 premises," he said. "I don't know any other town where the business community has put their own CCTV system in.

"The rest of the money came from the Stourport Business Association and the town centre forum, which received a grant from the district council."

Mr Fradgely said businesses had been "prepared to put their hands in their pockets and do something positive for the community" after an original plan launched five years ago with Bewdley and Kidderminster to bid for £250,000 of Government money fell through.

"People's personal safety will also be helped but some streets, especially Lombard Street, are too dark and the back alleys need to be lit."

"We would like to get up to 20 cameras as coverage is still patchy. Parts of the High Street are not covered."

He added: "CCTV doesn't stop crime altogether - it displaces it to other parts of town. But people judge Stourport by its town centre and to have a thriving town centre it has to be safe day and night."

Other initiatives by Stourport businesses aimed at fighting anti-social behaviour include the Shopwatch Radio project that allows shopkeepers to alert each other if they spot shoplifters.