DIGITAL technology is set to save New Forest taxpayers thousands of pounds when the long-awaited CCTV town centre system comes on line next year.

District councillors have backed proposals to install a digital camera set-up for the crime-busting initiative, which will be cheaper, of better quality and more long-lasting than its analogue counterpart.

And this means the authority will save £53,000 on the project during 2002/2003, and £34,000 per year thereafter.

The good news as more operational details of the project emerged during a meeting of the New Forest crime and disorder review panel.

A string of camera units are to be deployed in the heartland areas of Ringwood and Lymington, plus Totton, next summer, all connected directly to a control centre in Lyndhurst.

The room will be manned for a minimum of 19 hours per day, with operators monitoring footage from the 64 cameras in three shifts.

As well as providing crucial round-the-clock evidence of crime and anti-social behaviour, they will also enable police to direct patrols to incidents as rapidly as possible.

And panel members also backed proposals for appointing a team of independent, "lay" inspectors to monitor the monitors.

Once vetted by the police, they will receive full training concerning the legal confidentiality of CCTV information, and keep tabs on the operation of the project, allaying fears that it could become a Big Brother-style invasion of privacy.

Exact locations for the cameras are still to be agreed by council officers and Hampshire Police.