A LONG-running campaign to get CCTV cameras installed in a Southampton district to clamp down on prostitution and antisocial behaviour has ended in success.

More than £115,000 worth of equipment will be set up in St Mary Street at the start of next month following pressure from various groups in the inner-city area.

Residents' leaders and traders have welcomed the planned introduction of the seven cameras and said it would boost efforts to fight crime.

Christine Morris, of the Golden Grove Neighbourhood Watch scheme, said: "This is something that I've wanted ever since I moved here about seven years ago.

"I was here when Northam had theirs installed and wondered when we would get it here too.

"This will help with the youth nuisance that can happen in the area and with the prostitution problem as well. Hopefully it will deter things like that and not just move it on to the estate, where it will not be covered by cameras."

The equipment is being funded by Home Office cash and money from Hyde Housing, which opened a new HQ as part of the regeneration of the street last year.

A public meeting is taking place tonight to give people in the area more details on the project.

The Rev Ian Johnson, team rector for Southampton City Centre Parish, said he was pleased with the project and hoped to supplement it by having cameras for St Mary's Church.

A spokesman for the city council's community safety team said: "We have had a working group, made up of various organisations, to look at the positions where cameras were needed. The feedback we have had from traders in the area has been very positive."

The meeting on the cameras' introduction takes place at James Street Church tonight from 5pm to 7pm.