A total of £186,000 is to be spent on the security camera system in Coventry city car parks.

The Home Office has awarded a grant of £153,000 and the City Centre Company, which manages the city centre and its car parks, has added £33,000.

The money will be spent on 18 additional cameras in five car parks and on extensive upgrades to the existing camera network. A state of the art computer system will be installed in the camera control room to make more efficient and effective use of the CCTV system.

Covert cameras will be installed so that criminals will not know that they are under surveillance.

Additional lighting will also be installed in five car parks and there will be extensive security measures in the Barracks Car park.

The new work will expand the city centre CCTV system to a total of 140 cameras and will enable the City Centre Company to apply for ‘secure car park’ awards for 19 of the city centre car parks.