£600,000 in grant funding for new LED traffic lights in Nottingham city

Nottingham City Council has secured a grant of £631,374.47 from the Department for Transport (DfT) to upgrade outdated traffic signals. This funding, part of the national Traffic Signals Obsolescence Grant (TSOG), will replace older halogen incandescent lamps with energy-efficient LED modules.

The project, set to start in April 2024 and finish by March 2026, aims to lower energy costs, carbon emissions, and maintenance expenses associated with the ageing signal systems.

The grant includes £500,000 from a competitive challenge fund application and an additional £131,374.47 automatically allocated to the council. These funds will upgrade about 48% of the city’s traffic signals, currently using high-energy-consuming halogen incandescent (HI) lamps, with modern LED retrofit signal heads.

Switching to LED technology is expected to bring significant benefits. The new modules consume just 9 watts per cycle, a 75% reduction in energy use compared to the current HI lamps. Additionally, LED modules have a much longer lifespan, reducing the frequency of replacements and associated downtime.

The project is anticipated to save the council approximately £118,000 annually based on previous upgrades. The transition to LED signals is also expected to reduce the carbon footprint of Nottingham’s traffic signal network by about 78% per lamp. These savings are crucial as the council manages financial pressures while contributing to broader sustainability goals.