THE Government has agreed to pay for the relocation of Richmond's closed circuit television control room.

North Yorkshire Police, which said it did not have the staff to monitor the system, will stop monitoring it this year.

The Richmondshire Community Safety Partnership asked the Government to pay for work linking the Richmond cameras to a net- work run from Catterick Garrison.

A total of £120,000 will be spent on the installation of fibre-optic cables linking the systems.

After that, the Army, Richmondshire District Council and Richmond Town Council will employ a security firm to monitor the system around the clock.

The district authority's community safety officer, Lynda MacDougall, said: "Securing government funding has meant this valuable service can be relocated at no extra cost to residents and should result in an improved service.

"As under the previous agreement, the district council and Richmond Town Council will still provide the maintenance costs."

The installation of the cables should be finished by the end of the month.