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More than 80 businesses on an industrial estate want to join a scheme aimed at cutting break-ins in the area.

Now a Business Watch scheme could be set up on the Finedon Road Industrial Estate, Wellingborough. Recent Police stats demonstrated that there had only been one theft on the Finedon Road and Park Farm industrial estates in Wellingborough since property-marking SmartWater was introduced to 95 per cent of the companies on the two industrial estates in December 2008.

The latest crime figures for the Hemmingwell area of Wellingborough, including the Finedon Road industrial estate, show that in January there were five house burglaries and nine break-ins at sheds, garages or commercial premises.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police’s Hemmingwell safer community team (SCT) said: ‘Several of the non-dwelling burglaries were commercial break-ins on the Finedon Road Industrial Estate which continues to be an issue. Our local priority policing team has assisted us with this priority. Several overnight crimes have come in, suggesting that there is a need for us to adapt our deployment times.’

Hemmingwell SCT leader Sgt Dave Harley said: ‘Our response to the issue of burglary on the Finedon Road Industrial Estate is a robust one. One tool in our armoury is the proposed Business Watch Scheme we are in the process of setting up, in partnership with Northamptonshire Enterprise. Over 80 businesses have expressed an interest in the scheme which is a clear indication that it will be a popular and, we believe, effective scheme.’

Bob Taylor from waste management and recycling firm F&R Cawley, which is on Neilson Road on the Finedon Road Industrial Estate, said: ‘We signed up to the SmartWater initiative last year. All our property is marked with SmartWater. We have never had a problem in the part of the industrial estate we are in. We are more than happy with any initiative if any other companies have problems. Any type of security awareness scheme is a good idea.’