On-road testing of the latest vehicle licence plate recognition technology begins today to improve fair access to parking across Lower Hutt.

It will see an Aero Ranger camera kit attached to one of Hutt City Council’s four parking enforcement vehicles as it patrols the city's streets.

As the car is being driven, the camera employs advanced snapshot technology to capture vehicle number plates. On the car's return, it will register whether a vehicle has paid for the parking. The information is sent back to Council and a staff member will review it to assess whether to send a ticket by mail.

Following testing, enforcement will start from 1 October for a six-month trial.

Council’s Head of Environmental Protection Justin Roberts says the technology will make parking enforcement more efficient and much fairer for those who do the right thing.

"Our eight parking wardens cover town centres from Stokes Valley to Wainuiomata and they can’t be everywhere at once," he says.

"However, the chances of getting caught doing the wrong thing are about to increase. I’m really optimistic it will drive behaviour change so the vast majority pay their fair share of parking and don’t overstay in timed parking spaces. That’s going to make it more equitable for everyone and increase parking availability in our town centres."

Roberts says another benefit of the technology is increased safety of our Council wardens.

"Unfortunately, abuse and threatening behaviour has been on the rise, so not having to leave the car to walk around or put a ticket on a windscreen is really helpful."

The technology also maps parking occupancy and demand, which will inform the future development of parking management plans in local areas.

It can also check that Warrants of Fitness and car registrations are current and identify vehicles registered as stolen.

Budget for the technology was approved as part of Council’s 2024 Long-term Plan.

Licence plate recognition vehicles are already operating in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Wellington.

The system is designed to capture only vehicle number plates, not passersby. If a person is incidentally captured on camera, the technology has facial redaction capabilities. This feature provides wardens with full control to blur any unintended captures, ensuring compliance with the Privacy Act 2020.

Council will use images only for evidence gathering, enforcement and for collecting data about how parking spaces are used. Photographic evidence is legally required to be stored for 12 months on secure servers.

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