COUNCIL tenants on Bolton's Hall i'th' Wood estate have been told to pay-up for the running costs of new CCTV cameras -- or move out.

The council has written to all tenants, warning them their tenancy agreements are to be altered to incorporate the £143-a-year charge.

They have been told that if they refuse to pay the charge they will have to move off the estate.

A revolt against the fee has been gathering pace. Many tenants have vowed not to pay and a 200 name petition has been put together. They will hand it to Bolton North-east MP David Crausby.

Many people are furious that only those renting from the council are being made to pay, while residents who own their homes are not to be charged.

Community leaders had hoped to make a legal challenge to the charge but have been told by a solicitor they would be unlikely to succeed. In a letter to tenants, the chief housing officer warns: "If you do not want to accept the terms of this tenancy agreement you can serve a notice to quit...if you do you will have to leave the property." But today Rita Lilley, chairman of the Hall i' th' Wood Residents Association, said she was disgusted.

She said: "How can they treat people like this? People who have lived here for 40 or 50 years and have never missed a rent payment in their lives. It is below the belt.

"People cannot afford to pay. We wanted the CCTV cameras which have improved things but nobody explained that we would be made to foot the bill."

Hall i' th' Wood residents have complained for years that the estate has been blighted by vandalism, drugs, burglary, theft and car crime.

Bolton Council was given a £230,000 Government grant to fund a CCTV scheme, but it is not enough to pay for the staff who monitor the control room.

The charge -- which amounts to £2.75-a-week for each household -- will come into effect tomorrow.

Gaynor Derbyshire, aged 37, who lives with her husband Josh, their three children and granddaughter, is furious that she is being made to pay even though the cameras do not cover her home. Mrs Derbyshire, of The Stray, had already installed her own CCTV system to protect her house when the cameras went up. She said: "We are struggling to get by without this.

"The council just made their minds up about the charges and there was nothing the tenants could do about it. We were never asked, it was just forced on us." Today Mr Crausby said he sympathised with the tenants but added: "I wouldn't advise anybody not to pay the charge but they are certainly entitled to continue to complain.

"The burden of paying for CCTV cameras should not be put on a small number of people, especially those who pay rent. I will be taking this up again with the local authority. I believe an alternative method of payment should be found." Cllr Noel Spencer, head of Bolton at Home, the independent company which will take over the running of council estates later this year, agreed that the present system was unfair.

He said the council was taking legal advice on making the charges part of the contract for tenants buying their council houses, adding it was possible tenants' charges could then be lowered.

"If tenants feel aggrieved we will have another look at the letter and I pass on my apologies," he said.

"We have had a massive amount of consultation and people were told of the charges around 12 months ago."