Objective Data makes for Better Decisions

Allocating limited financial resources to the assets and services that need it most is a difficult task at the best of times, without the correct data.  Add Covid-19 and social distancing and you have a tightrope with no balancing bar.   Perhaps your Councillors and local residents will be demanding resources for a new play area while the community hall roof gets leakier and the grass gets longer.  How do you meet these needs?

This is why data is so important.  It helps all involved in the budget allocation to make objective based decisions, as opposed to bending to the loudest or most wilful Councillors and residents. 

It is possible to count visitors, pedestrians, bikes, cars and even horses, and often a mix of two or three of these.  The data is transmitted weekly, daily or by the hour from the counter to the web and accessible by the client on their secure portal.    You will then know how many people have been in the park, or how often the community hall gets used. 

Green spaces, parks, woodlands

Installing a footfall counter and a vehicle or bicycle counter in a green space, park or woodland area, gives you the data you need to make accurate decisions about funding, and resource allocations for these spaces. When the new Lee Valley Wildlife Discovery Centre was due to open, they wanted a way to ensure that they knew how many visitors they were getting to the centre. Healthmatic installed footfall counters and vehicle counters throughout the park in order to get a measure of how well used the space is.

The counters have measured that the centre has received on average 50,000 visitors per month. There are over 50 counters set up around the park which show where the most amount of people are visiting and where the highest number of cars are entering the park. This means that the team that manage the park have the information they need to manage resource allocation, where extra bin collections may need to be carried out or additional clean ups may be needed.

High Streets and Car Parks

The local high street has been hit hard by the pandemic and knowing how many resources are needed for those using it has become key information for local councils. Measuring the use of local car parks, cycle lanes and visitors to local high streets can help identify which marketing and financial help approaches are working.  This helps hearsay into hard facts.

With the installation of vehicle counters in local car parks and pedestrian footfall counters on the high street or at the entrance to shopping centres, a local council can get the data they need to provide improvements, entertainment, and resources for these local areas. It’s also a much more effective way to gain information about how well a high street is used, as an alternative to market researchers standing at exits and entrances. Vehicle counters can even tell you how long vehicles are remaining in car parks, helping to judge whether the car parks are being adequately maintained for their level of usage and whether the parking charges are reasonable and in line with the use of the car parks.

Data Presentation

Our counters are fitted with remote modems and batteries, meaning they can be installed almost anywhere in the country and the data can be relayed to you as often or as little as you prefer. We can even run bespoke reports and send them to you when necessary.

These counters have made a huge difference for many councils all over the UK and Ireland, helping them to manage their resource allocation, budgets and funding applications in a much more successful manner. If you’re interested in making sure that you have the best and most up to date data, call Healthmatic on 01249822063 or complete our online contact form here.