Wokingham and Woodley Car Park CCTV

Wokingham and Woodley car parks now monitored by CCTV.

17:52 25 August 2021

New CCTV cameras have been installed in some of the biggest carparks in Wokingham Borough, including the massive Crockhamwell Road car park or more popularly known as the Waitrose car park. 

 

Councillor Keith Baker, who is on both Wokingham Borough Council and Woodley Town Council, confirms that the CCTV will be used to monitor parking space availability. 

 

He explained: “The primary reason is to inform drivers so that they don’t have to drive around looking for a space.

 

“What can happen is when people drive into a major town, they go to a car park expecting spaces to be available and none are, so they go to another car park and they end up driving around.

 

“So this CCTV does make a contribution to reducing potential congestion. It should help to stop people driving around looking for a space, that’s the theory.”

 

A council spokesperson added: “The installation of CCTV in some of our car parks is to monitor the levels of car park usage, especially in our busier town centres.

 

“Coupled with sensors in the car park, this will enable us to provide information on the numbers of available spaces in the car parks on automated signage in these areas.

 

“This information will help drivers to see the availability of spaces, thereby reducing circulating traffic movements and improve traffic flow, reduce fuel wastage, congestion and pollution.  The cameras have an added benefit of monitoring these areas for security, helping us to deter incidents of vehicle theft and reduce anti-social behaviour, reports of which have risen during lockdown.”