London Borough of Wandsworth Deploys Unattended CCTV Enforcement Cameras From Videalert
The London Borough of Wandsworth, which serves more than half a million people, has awarded Videalert, one the UK’s leading suppliers of intelligent traffic enforcement and management solutions, a contract to install unattended CCTV cameras at a number of “problem” locations across the borough. The contract was awarded following competitive trials of all the major suppliers undertaken by Wandsworth’s Parking team, now part of the Richmond and Wandsworth shared parking service. After completing these trials it was determined that the Videalert system would provide best value to the Council in terms of performance and cost over the lifetime of the contract.
The introduction of unattended CCTV cameras into the Borough is part of the shared parking service’s drive to improve operational efficiency and achieve cost savings. According to Adam Westwood, based in Wandsworth’s Parking Operations Team: “We continuously challenge ourselves to provide the best services at the lowest cost. Our goal is always resident satisfaction at a price taxpayers can afford to pay.”
After benchmarking the technologies and performance, Videalert came out on top with consistently high capture rates, particularly in busy traffic conditions and across complex moving traffic contravention scenarios. The quality of evidence captured using the latest digital, ONFIV compliant cameras also resulted in higher productivity with the added potential to reduce the number of appeals. Other key factors in the decision-making process included flexibility of the system to capture multiple contraventions from a single WAN unit to reduce infrastructure costs combined with Videalert’s real-time monitoring service to keep system uptime as close as possible to 100%. The platform’s automated evidence pack review suite was also recognised to further enhance productivity.
Steve Cull, Assistant Head of Shared Parking Services for Richmond and Wandsworth, added: “The trials demonstrated that the use of unattended cameras was justified in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and compliance. Deploying Videalert’s unique Digital Video Platform allows additional camera assets and enforcement applications to be cost effectively added, providing a future-proofed investment for civil traffic enforcement.”
As a direct result of the trials, cameras have already been installed at an initial four locations. Wandsworth will continue to transition from its current attended system with further installations of Videalert’s unattended cameras based on expected efficiency and productivity gains.
Videalert commented: “We offer a radically different way of using CCTV for traffic management and civil enforcement for today and tomorrow. Using sophisticated ANPR and video analytics, Videalert delivers the highest productivity whilst minimising equipment infrastructure and communication costs at each target enforcement location.”