Cardiff has become the first council in Europe to launch a new smart parking system across its citywide road network.

The council’s new Park Cardiff smartphone app will go-live this week, helping drivers to locate available parking spaces.

Working with parking technology firm Smart Parking Limited, Cardiff Council has installed 3,300 sensors in ‘paid-for’ and disabled parking bays.

These will use infrared technology to detect whether a space is free or not — data which will then be available via the app.

‘Although our priority is for people to use public or alternative forms of transport, we accept that there will still be a requirement for people to use the private car,’ said Cllr Caro Wild, cabinet member for Strategic Planning and Transport at Cardiff.

‘Given this, we want to provide the technology to make parking as easy as possible, so that people don’t have to drive around the city to find a parking space.’

Cllr Wild continued: ‘Now that we have invested in this scheme, we want people that park in and around the city centre to download the free app – it is easy to use and will help both the motorist and the council.

‘Congestion and driving at low speeds significantly increases pollutants from cars, so we want people to find a space and park as quickly as possible.’

Smart Parking’s bay sensor system has already been successfully deployed in Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, South Africa and Europe.