Two high-rise estates near Bradford city centre are to benefit from a new £1.7 million CCTV system.

The system will include more than 100 CCTV cameras installed across 16 blocks, 11 of them at Manchester Road and another five at Otley Road.

The two sites will be connected via a fibre optic link and a secure concierge lodge is being developed at Buchan Towers, Manchester Road, to control the new system.

The lodge will eventually house up to three security staff, whose job it will be to view the external and internal CCTV cameras.

It will be manned 24 hours a day and will also be able to communicate with Bradford Council's main CCTV operation in the city centre.

It is hoped the project - due for completion in September - will play a major role in helping to improve the quality of life for residents on the estates.

In addition to the CCTV equipment, new door entry systems will also be installed to control access into all 16 blocks, providing two-way communication from the concierge lodge to 843 flats across both sites.

"Our aim was to improve the quality of life for residents in the high-rise blocks," said Derek Wadelin, project manager for Bradford Community Housing Trust Group.

"In the past we have found that putting in concierge systems not only acts as a deterrent to would-be vandals and criminals, it also makes local residents feel safer in their homes."

Ian Simpson, executive director of the West City Housing Trust, which is responsible for both sets of flats, said three blocks on Manchester Road were already covered by CCTV but the new work, being funded by the Home Office, Bradford Council and the community housing trust, would extend that.

"There is a lot of comfort in living in a block of flats where there is security. It gives reassurance," said Mr Simpson.

"Sometimes high-rise blocks have a bad reputation but there are lots of people who like living there. If you get the management right and put the right people in there, they can be nice places and part of that is getting the security right. This is the first step on the road to further improvements."

Architects would be appointed to work with tenants on environmental im-provements around the flats.