COUNCIL chiefs hope to step up the war against a borough's crime by buying a £60,000 mobile spy camera.

Hyndburn Council has unveiled plans to obtain cash for the roving crime-buster, which would be deployed in trouble hot-spots across the borough.

Police chiefs have welcomed the plan, which depends on the success of a funding to the Government's CCTV Challenge, saying it would be especially effective in solving anti-social behaviour and juvenile problems.

The bid has been prepared by Hyndburn First, the regeneration arm of Hyndburn Council.

A decision is expected in April and around £40,000 would come from the CCTV Challenge pot, with the remainder raised locally when the bid is successful.

Director Nigel Rix said: "There is no doubt about the success of the static CCTV cameras in the town centres. They help people feel safer and provide hard evidence of incidents.

"We want to repeat that across the borough. This mobile unit would be placed for a time in a trouble-spot, allowing the police to catch the people responsible.

"It would benefit a lot of people and enable us, along with the police, to provide a flexible response to crime and disorder."

A similar mobile unit has been hired twice from Chorley Police, who use the camera to target known problem spots such as Clayton Brook.

Both times, the camera, mounted in a van, helped solve persistent problems by revealing regular troublemakers.

Inspector Dale Allen, of Accrington Police, said: "Nuisance and anti-social crimes are very distressing for the people involved and this mobile unit would be an excellent way of cracking down on such problems.

"I hope the council gets the funding so we can continue improving the quality of life the people of Hyndburn experience."

A further £4,000 is being sought as part of the challenge bid to pay for improvements to the CCTV control centre at Accrington Police, with an extra £16,000 for another fixed camera in Accrington town centre.

When fixed CCTV cameras were first introduced into Accrington in 1996, they had an immediate effect on crime, slashing the cost of reported crime by £500,000 in one year and helping produce evidence to arrest 332 people.

Mr Rix added: "Improvements are need to the control centre because there are more cameras now than when it was launched, while the additional camera will cover what is now a blackspot for CCTV coverage in the town centre.

"The most important thing with CCTV is that troublemakers can be tracked around the town centre. This camera will help complete the chain."