East Riding Council awarded Government grant for pioneering scheme featuring eco-friendly street lights

A share of a £30m fund from HM Government has been awarded to East Riding Council, as part of a scheme aimed at cutting the carbon footprint of the highways sector and saving millions of public money.

The innovative project plans to decarbonise the country’s street lights and introduce the next generation of road signs, road markings, and cat’s eyes, able to reflect brighter in vehicle headlights.

The scheme also aims to explore more efficient uses and layouts for street lights, road signs and road markings.

Leader of East Riding Council, Cllr Jonathan Owen, said: “This work is not only massively innovative – it will be the only such work of its kind in the UK – so the East Riding is leading the way.

“This will be the country’s first ever major review of street lighting, and how people perceive and appreciate different types of lights and differing levels.

“Britain's current road signs regulations were brought in in the 1960s, so it is high time they were reviewed and improved.

“Through this pilot scheme, we want to achieve major change and massively reduce energy consumption, and by doing that develop new guidelines to be adopted by local authorities nationally.”

The council will carry out studies exploring how roads are lit and will use the data it gathers to work with other councils across the country in order to drive change and create a new standard in street lighting for the future.

The council's scheme will cost a total of £4.6m - the Government cash plus £1.3m match-funding from the council.

Currently, the UKs 7.2m street lights cost £3.5billion a year, including £1billion in energy costs.

Street lights produce one million tonnes of carbon emissions, contributing to the damaging impacts of climate change.

Trials are to be carried out along two of the East Riding’s busiest roads - the 31 mile stretch of the A1079 Hull to York corridor and the A164.

For the pilot scheme, the council has partnered with ten others in England and others in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It has already teamed up with Sheffield University, the Institute of Lighting Professionals and lighting companies to discover alternative products.