A NEW CCTV system costing £500,000 for the whole region will replace the present system which was paid for by Todmorden ratepayers.

The town council decided to install its own system, as did Hebden Royd and Brighouse, but now Calderdale Council has relented, and the state-of-the-art equipment will operate from next summer.

Coun Amanda Byrne said the 100 cameras being installed throughout Calderdale would provide top quality monitoring and a new centre would replace the office at Calderdale College at Mytholmroyd, while the five cameras in Todmorden would be linked with the new system.

Coun Byrne, the council's spokeswoman on community services, said: "I have always maintained that professionally-planned, professionally-installed and monitored CCTV is an effective deterrent to crime and disorder."