WORK is expected to start this week on a £190,000 scheme to install an extra 12 closed-circuit television cameras in Eastleigh town centre.

The move will bring Eastleigh's extensive spy-in-the sky network up to 60 cameras - all linked to a main control room.

The new cameras, which will take up to ten weeks to install, will monitor the main pedestrian route from Wells Place along Factory Road and into the new residential development on the former Pirelli site.

The scheme has been funded by developers' contributions and provides coverage from the new residential areas to the shopping centre.

When the Daily Echo first reported on the latest plans to extend the scheme it was welcomed by residents living in the new homes on the Pirelli development.

Now Councillor Steve Sollitt, the chairman of the borough authority's Eastleigh Local Area Committee, has said: "The cameras are designed to reduce still further the fear of crime and to encourage people to walk from the new development into the town.

"The new scheme will also help the police in reducing antisocial behaviour and vehicle crime."

He added that the introduction of CCTV to the town centre had made a significant impact on reducing the concerns and fear of crime among both residents and visitors.

"The town is now perceived as being far safer than it was seven years ago and a recent survey shows that there is high support for the scheme," he said.

Eastleigh town centre's CCTV scheme was first introduced in 1997 with 12 cameras and has been extended since then.

It covers the main shopping streets and rear service roads, the town's car parks, railway and bus station, taxi rank, Leigh Road Recreation Ground and The Point.