Bournemouth Borough Council Takes Action To Stop Parking Problems Outside Schools

Bournemouth Borough Council is taking the first steps towards a fixed deterrent to reduce the increasing incidence of inconsiderate parking outside schools by deploying Videalert’s fully hosted CCTV-based enforcement platform. Six cameras will be deployed as part of a year-long pilot scheme at an initial three school locations where illegal parking on the yellow ‘keep clears’ has been identified as putting children’s lives in danger.

According to Elaine Smith, Deputy Parking Services Manager at Bournemouth Borough Council: “The zig zag lines provided outside our schools are there to protect our children, making roads safer to cross. We have in the past tried using camera cars but it is hoped that using fixed CCTV cameras will prove to be more effective in changing the anti-social behaviour of those who drop off and pick up their children in restricted areas.”

Videalert’s CEaaS solution is easy to install as it does not require the procurement and deployment of any equipment within Bournemouth’s IT infrastructure or software to be installed on local PCs for evidence pack review. A single PTZ camera installed on a lamp post continuously monitors the keep clear zones and automatically captures only the drivers that are stationary in defined ‘watch areas’ and exceed the ‘watch times’. The system combines automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) with video analytics to deliver the highest productivity at the lowest operational cost.

Qualified council operatives can access and review evidence packs using standard web browsers before transmitting confirmed offences to the back office processing system where PCNs are issued. Videalert is providing Bournemouth Borough Council with a dedicated virtual server to guarantee the highest level of security and integrity with cloud storage used for backup.

“Outsourcing to a hosted enforcement environment enables councils to improve efficiency, maximise productivity and maintain greater control over costs,” added Videalert. “This innovative solution also allows for other civil traffic enforcement requirements, such as bus lanes, to be easily and rapidly added as well as providing a platform for delivering traffic management and community safety applications simultaneously without needing a major IT infrastructure project.”