A £10,000 donation has given Adlington Town Council a big helping hand in its plans to set up a CCTV security-camera system.

Councillors have been campaigning for cameras in the village for seven years and the cash will go a quarter of the way towards the estimated £44,000 cost of buying and running two cameras for a year.

The cameras would be positioned at opposite ends of the village -- one at the junction of Railway Road and Bolton Road and the other in lower Adlington, at the junction of Park Road and Market Street.

The £10,000 has been pledged by the Banks Foundation, which has links with Adlington.

Donations have also been received from various businesses including Pincroft printing and dying works in Market Street, Fairport Engineering in Market Place and The Royal Bank of Scotland, which pledged £1,000 following an armed robbery at the Market Street branch earlier this year.

Anderton Town Council has also made a contribution as the Railway Road camera would overlook some Anderton residents and businesses.

Councillor Barry Lee said: "This donation has been an excellent boost to our funds. We still need to raise around £30,000 but hope to be able to get at least part of the system up within the next 12 months.

"It's important that Adlington is covered by CCTV cameras for public safety and to reduce the amount of crime we get in certain parts of the village."

The Banks Foundation is an environmental body that has been set up to distribute landfill tax credit scheme funding on behalf of the Banks Group.

The scheme enables waste management companies to divert 6.8 per cent of their annual landfill tax liability to environmental projects such as improvements to open spaces, parks or local buildings or the restoration of religious or historical buildings.

Adlington landfill site Rigby House Quarry, behind Sandy Lane, is owned by the Banks Group, making Adlington Town Council eligible to apply for funding from the foundation.

A spokesman from the Banks Foundation said: "The project is a much needed resource to the local community and will give added security and peace of mind to local residents."