By Mark Donaghy LEIGH town centre could soon be protected with a further set of crime-busting CCtv cameras.

Wigan Council is considering making a bid to the Home Office for more hi-tech equipment to bolster the existing system.

The police and the local authority have been pleased with the successful role the cameras have played in reducing crime and catching criminals in the town over the past three years.

But Leigh town centre remains one of the borough's crime hot spots and it is felt widening the area under surveillance would produce even better results.

Gordon Jackson, owner of Jacksons of Leigh on Queen Street and chairman of the town's business partnership, said he welcomed the latest move and hoped the new system would be installed to cover the area close to his shop.

He added: "In the past two months there has been £8,000-£9,000 worth of damage to windows and stock stolen in Queen Street.

"As long as the cameras are properly monitored they will be a big deterrent."

A meeting of the Community Safety Panel this week voted in favour of detailed proposals to be compiled which will then be sent to Home Secretary Jack Straw.

The first stage of the application for funding is an outline bid which must include the type of scheme proposed, the nature of the target area and suggested partners in the project.

If it is shortlisted by the Home Office it will then require a further detailed final bid.

Wigan and Ashton town centres are the other areas suggested for new CCtv cameras.

Members of the panel, which included Chief Supt Peter Owen, broadly agreed the new initiatives.

But Hindley Green councillor Peter Turner argued that civil liberties were being compromised as more schemes, which not necessarily made towns safer places, were given the green light.

He added: "There are no figures available which show CCtv cameras work. They are not a cheap option to beat crime."

The current rounds of CCtv bids will be in the form of a rolling programme of funding running until December 2001. The Home Office may give up to 100 per cent of the cost of the new systems, but they will normally expect bids to include proposals for partnership.