Issued by City of York Council
City of York Council has announced its intention to invest in footfall cameras at key points across the city centre to gain a greater understanding of resident and visitor use and movement around the city, to inform future initiatives and investment decisions.
The move comes as part of the council’s commitment to support York’s city centre resilience in light of current market challenges, against a backdrop of decreasing footfall on high streets seen across the UK since 2008.
It will also allow the authority to benchmark the city in comparison to other similar sized city’s across the UK, and learn from best practice elsewhere.
The authority is currently in discussion with city centre businesses on the number and locations of the camera’s, which will be informed in part by qualitative information from retailers and other businesses already operating in the centre.
Cllr James Alexander, leader of City of York council said: “Making this long overdue investment will help us gain a much better understanding of how the city centre is being used by residents and visitors, not just in our key shopping areas and attractions, but in evaluating new concerns and maximising opportunities such as our evening economy.
“We’ve embarked on a programme of investment in our public spaces throughout the city as part of reinvigorate York and the current set of cameras in Parliament street do not give an accurate reflection of public movement throughout the city.
“York’s diverse shopping offer for instance is across the entirety of the city centre, not just on Parliament Street. Increasing the number of footfall cameras will not only monitor more accurately the numbers of people using the various areas of the city, but how they are using it”.
Between 2009 and 2012, the city centre footfall in York has declined by approximately 6 per cent, slightly above the UK rate.
The camera’s will be in addition to those on Parliament Street and will be paid for via existing core service budgets. They will be separate from existing CCTV cameras, due to the need for them to be stationary at all times to gain accurate footfall data.
This content has not been created by YorkMix but by one of our trusted news sources. YorkMix is not responsible for the accuracy of the text.