MORE than £200,000 is set to be invested in York's CCTV network, bringing in new control equipment and digital recording.

VCR machines would be dumped, images could be shared quickly over computer networks and £6,000 a year could be trimmed off the budget if councillors attending a planning advisory meeting at City of York Council give the proposals the thumbs up.

A year ago, the Evening Press revealed how a number of cameras in the city centre were faulty, with as many as 18 failing to work properly.

Earlier this month, the council declared its network was in "full working order" and had been monitoring the city centre effectively for several months. Now the council is proposing a significant investment in its network to bring it up to 21st Century standards.

The current system has 60 cameras, but some parts of the network are more than 15 years old and use analogue technology.

The plans, which would be paid for from the council's local transport plan allocation, would mean:

A new "matrix" installed at the communications equipment at St Leonard's Place. Costing £85,000, it allows signals from any camera to be sent to any control keyboard or display screen. A new matrix could mean extra cameras could be installed

Moving fully to digital video recording. Costing £35,000, this will allow VCR tapes to be phased out - saving money for the council. Images could then be stored at much higher quality and would be more suitable for use as evidence

Spending £90,000 converting CCTV to a "digital mesh operation" - a private network which can wirelessly carry information. This could mean, in some places, cheaper cameras could be used at locations where they are needed for traffic monitoring. Officers have recommended the scheme, costing slightly more than £205,000, be approved at the meeting on February 1.

Coun Ann Reid, city transport chief, who is responsible for CCTV and highway maintenance, said: "We will be saving money, but providing a better system. This is an example of council efficiency at its best."

Carole Patrick, of Safer York Partnership, said the images would be of a much higher quality and would help catch criminals.

"Anything which captures a clear image will enable a rapid response to emerging situations and will help catch the culprits," she said.

"This has got to be a good thing for York."

Detective Superintendent Lewis Raw, of York Police, said: "It works as a deterrent and we can put before the courts high quality evidence which can help ensure we get more convictions. This is a very positive development."

Updated: 09:49 Monday, January 30, 2006