Sutton Council is deploying sensors to combat fly tipping and a rise in unauthorised access to the borough’s car parks.
It is preparing to install the sensors and a remote monitoring solution from IoT Solutions Group to anonymously monitor suspicious car park activity in real time. This will enable it to check on whether any offences are taking place and notifying the police if necessary.
It is aiming to prevent illegal activity from occurring and save on the costs of clear-ups after offences have been committed.
Sutton has previously invested in over-height vehicle barriers across many car parks to prevent oversized vehicles entering the sites, although in some instances the locks have been illegally opened overnight.
The digital sensors are being implemented as part of the South London Partnership’s InnOvaTe Project and will be installed across eleven car parks for a period of one year.
Sutton said the technology cannot be used to gather any kind of personal data or for enforcement purposes, but will report whether the barriers are open or closed and send alerts automatically if they are opened unexpectedly.
Early interventions
Councillor Manuel Abellan, chair of the council’s environment and sustainable transport committee, said: “By installing digital sensors, the insights will give us a clear picture of car park activity in real time, and allow early intervention if the gates are opened beyond a set time, saving potential police and court costs.”
“I’d like to thank Sutton Council colleagues and IoT Solutions Group Ltd for their hard work to make this happen and we are excited to trial technology to tackle a continuous issue which has left a detrimental effect on our parks and the residents who regularly use them.”
This initiative is funded by the Strategic Investment Pot (SIP) as part of the London Councils Business Rates Retention scheme, administered by the City of London Corporation. Sutton Council is leading the project on behalf of other boroughs in the South London Partnership – Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton and Richmond upon Thames.
Over recent months it has launched a series of initiatives using IoT technology, including the installation of air quality sensors near schools and water level sensors to monitor flood risk.
Image from Southwark Council
