Traffic lights in Wirral set to go greener

Two-thirds of the borough’s traffic lights will be upgraded with LEDs and have further improvement works to make them better for the environment.

Following funding of £1 million from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, the next year will see significant work to the borough’s traffic light network.

Works, that will start in September 2022, will see traffic lights upgraded from filament lamps to LED optics, which require less energy to operate and have a longer life-expectancy so will reduce maintenance costs.

Planned work will not only ensure that the network can continue to operate efficiently, as filament lamps become unavailable, but the change to LED will help the council support Wirral’s Climate Strategy, Cool 2, target of a complete transition to fossil free travel by 2030.

As part of the works, where traffic lights are being replaced with LED, any poles that they sit on that need repairs will also be replaced.

The project will continue to help make Wirral a sustainable environment that leads the way in its response to the climate emergency and a place where residents feel safe and enjoy living – both aims of the Wirral Plan.

Approximately a third of the borough’s traffic lights are already operating using more energy efficient lights as any new traffic lights installed or upgraded since 2008/9 were fitted with LEDs. This will help continue the progress to make the council’s assets more energy efficient after 26,000 streetlights were upgraded to LEDs in a multi-million-pound scheme that was completed in early 2022.

Wirral Council accepted funding from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority under the Grant Funding Agreement of £982,378 for 2022/23 to complete the works.