CRIME-busting CCTV is to be installed at the largest business park on the outskirts of Felixstowe port in a bid to stop lorry thieves targeting the area.

CRIME-busting CCTV is to be installed at the largest business park on the outskirts of Felixstowe port in a bid to stop lorry thieves targeting the area.

Goods and vehicles worth millions of pounds have been stolen over the years from haulage yards in a series of meticulously-planned raids by gangs operating as part of a national network to steal and distribute expensive loads.

The gangs carry out their own surveillance and have stolen high-value cargoes of cigarettes, designer clothing, drink, and electrical goods.

Now landowner Trinity College, Cambridge, has submitted a planning application to increase security for its tenants by providing a new closed circuit television system and many more street lights.

The proposals have been put forward for roads outside the port perimeter and Suffolk Coastal council will decide the plan.

It would cost £160,000 or more to bring in the street lighting and the cost of leasing four cameras could be about £20,000 a year.

The extra security is planned for Nicholas Road, Blofield Road, Parker Avenue, Fagbury Road, Anzani Avenue, Hodgkinson Road and Dooley Road.

The cameras are planned for the Blofield Road roundabout; Fagbury Road at the junction with Parker Avenue; the junction of Hodgkinson Road and Ferry Lane, and the junction of Dooley Road and Walton Avenue.

Bidwells property consultants, Martlesham Heath, and agents for Trinity College circulated a questionnaire to commercial users last summer asking for comments on plans to increase the security and said there had previously been no particular emphasis on security issues on the industrial estate.

Blofield Road was the scene of an audacious kidnap early last year when a gang of thieves dressed as policemen captured security guard Stewart Williams.

He was left by the roadside on the A414 between Ongar and Chelmsford and required hospital treatment for wrist and shoulder injuries. The thieves made off with consignments of Nike designer footwear and boys' trousers.

The planning application does not cover the 700-acre port where strict security is already in place. Patrols by port police, the photographing of every driver and registration plate, security posts and two metre high razor wire-topped fencing are among the port's security measures.

The Road Haulage Association says more than £500m worth of trucks and goods are stolen nationally each year.