Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council is set to install Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras across its Pontypridd Town Centre car parks to survey parking capacity and trends — even as it prepares to demolish one of the town’s existing parking facilities.
The Council announced this week that cameras will be installed across its car parks in the coming days as part of a data-gathering exercise aimed at better understanding how its parking provision is being used. Officials were keen to stress that the technology will be used solely to collect trend data and will not be deployed for ticket enforcement. Car park opening hours and access points will remain unaffected during the installation.
However, the survey is taking place against a backdrop of growing concern among residents, with the Council simultaneously pushing ahead with plans to demolish the well-used Berw Road Car Park — leaving the town centre with reduced parking provision and, as yet, no replacement facility announced.
Adding a further twist to the story, the proposed new Pontypridd Police Station will not in fact be built on the Berw Road site at all. South Wales Police are instead set to relocate to an existing building in Abercynon — a former council office vacated by RCT itself — meaning the demolition of a busy town centre car park will effectively leave the land cleared without a confirmed end use in place.
Site notices have already been posted indicating that demolition could begin as early as June 12, though the Council has since clarified that this is only the earliest possible start date and that no confirmed date for the works has yet been set.
For many residents, the sequence of events will raise serious questions. Money is being spent surveying parking capacity in a town centre that is simultaneously losing one of its car parks, with no replacement provision announced and no clear plan for what will replace it. With shoppers, visitors and local businesses all relying on adequate parking to keep the town centre viable, the pressure on the Council to provide answers is likely to intensify.
The Council has urged residents to cooperate with the camera installation and has promised further updates on the demolition timeline in due course.
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