Dartford Borough Council’s cabinet agreed in July 2026 to fund the installation of automatic number plate recognition cameras in the High Street to deter unauthorised vehicles, while commissioning a feasibility study into hostile vehicle mitigation bollards.
Dartford Borough Council’s cabinet resolved at its meeting on 23 July 2026 to press ahead with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in the town centre High Street, following a public consultation on options to restrict vehicle access and improve pedestrian safety.
What was decided
The cabinet agreed to progress what the report called Option 3, which combines ANPR cameras to enforce the existing pedestrian and cycle zone traffic regulation order with a feasibility study into rising hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) bollards to protect Market Street and Central Park as event space. A further report on funding for the bollards is to come back to cabinet. The cabinet also authorised a new traffic regulation order for the pedestrianised area, with changes to traffic movement and shorter loading hours on market days, and delegated the procurement of the cameras to the Assistant Director for Planning and Place. External design work for the bollard feasibility study was to be funded from the pooling reserve funding for the High Street.
Kent County Council had recently received powers to enforce moving traffic offences and agreed to install cameras and manage enforcement of the pedestrianised zone, on condition that Dartford Borough Council paid for the cost of installation and the first five years of management. All options presented to cabinet therefore included ANPR. The report noted that revenue from penalty notices issued through the ANPR system would accrue to KCC, not to Dartford Borough Council.
Consultation findings
The public consultation presented four options using physical bollards. Officers reported “clear and substantial support” for improving pedestrian safety. The most popular single option was permanent 24-hour bollards, though 33 per cent of respondents selected an “Other” option, which the Deputy Chief Executive (Growth and Community) said suggested many residents wanted a more tailored or varied solution.
Every business unit in the affected area had been visited individually. Officers reported that businesses would welcome measures to make the town centre safer and more attractive, provided they could continue to receive deliveries and that access rules were clear.
Costs and access concerns
One cabinet member raised concerns about the cost of the ANPR system, describing it as comparable to the council’s entire CCTV budget. Officers clarified that the quoted figure also included remedial works to broken pavement slabs and tarmacked areas arising from the earlier town centre improvement project.
On access for Blue Badge holders, officers confirmed this would be addressed in a revised traffic regulation order, which would also make traffic in the town centre one-way and resolve ambiguities in the existing order.
The cabinet also agreed that bollards would be raised in line with current loading times — in place from 10am to 5pm — with an exception on market and event days, when they would be raised as soon as the market or event is set up.