North Ayrshire is one of six UK authorities receiving a portion of the £1.3 million available from a UK Government pilot. The £1.3m Smart Infrastructure Pilots Programme (SIPP) — of which the Scottish council area will receive £242,765 — is bolstered by a further £2.7m fronted by the local authorities, bringing the total amount available to £4m. 

The pilot aims to digitise urban infrastructure by using street lamps to act as EV charging stations, as well as to improve wireless connectivity. Both technologies are in high demand, and require innovative ideas to hit growth targets. 

The UK Government set out a goal to provide 300,000 charging points by 2030. That being said, there are currently under 50,000 in place at the moment, meaning the government would need to increase its average monthly installations by roughly 215% to meet this target. 

“We must give consumers the confidence to switch to electric vehicles to help overcome ‘range anxiety’, one of the major factors preventing greater uptake of EVs,” said Julian David, CEO of techUK.

By 2030, the UK Government has also set out to give at least 99% of premises across the UK gigabit broadband access. 

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“We want to ensure that towns and cities across the UK are right at the forefront of this connectivity revolution, ready to seize the opportunities it will bring for local communities, which is exactly what these pilots are about,” said minister for data and digital infrastructure Sir John Whittingdale.

In a step towards these goals, this initiative looks to transform street lamps to be multifaceted digital tools. Other companies are exploring similar opportunities in smart infrastructure for traffic lights, CCTV columns, benches, bins, and bus stops. 

“We hope these pilots can help other local areas realise the benefits that smart infrastructure promises,” said David. 

The other five regions benefitting from the Smart Infrastructure Pilots Programme are Cambridgeshire County Council (£220,000), Tees Valley Combined Authority (£202,500), Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (£245,700), Westminster City Council (£165,000), and Oxfordshire County Council (£250,000).