THE Southern Grampians Shire Council (SGSC) is seeking tenders to instal a closed-circuit television (CCTV) analytics software solution to capture vehicle and pedestrian usage across the Hamilton CBD.

The CCTV will count the number of cars, caravans / motorhomes, variations of trucks (B-doubles or heavy rigid etc) and pedestrians in the CBD and in the forecourt of the Dunkeld Visitors Information Centre.

Southern Grampians Shire Council business systems manager, Russell Bennett, said the data would only be used for analytics accessible to Council, to help in understanding traffic and pedestrian flow.

“The objective of the CCTV analytics solutions is purely to capture entity data on usage,” he said. 

“For example, we could potentially use this data to measure the number of heavy vehicles using Lonsdale Street and Coleraine Road for consideration in future projects.”

The Request for Quote (RFQ) has been tendered for the software solution that can be integrated into the existing CCTV network that Council operates in partnership with VicPol throughout the SGSC. 

The analytical software will initially be installed on existing CCTV cameras that capture footage of:

-             The Lonsdale Street/Brown Street Roundabout

-             Coleraine Road (from the Council office building to the Lonsdale Street/Thompson Street Roundabout)

-             Gray Street between Thompson Street and Brown Street

-             The forecourt in front of the Dunkeld Visitor Information Centre

Mr Bennett said SGSC planned to have the CCTV analytics solution operational by the end of 2022 and were looking for a system that could be expanded into the future.

“Data will not be accessible by the general public and will be supported by relevant cyber security programs put in place by Council,” he said.

The Spectator announced in May that phase 2 of the Shire’s CCTV rollout would commence, working in conjunction with Victoria Police as an important crime preventative measure.