Essex and Hertfordshire Partner for Smart Cities

Essex and Hertfordshire County Councils partner with Telensa on a new smart city services pilot.

17:53 12 March 2018

Essex and Hertfordshire County Councils have announced that they have partnered with Cambridge-based technology firm Telensa to pilot UK innovation in smart city services. The project’s goal is to build on a foundation of investing in practical innovation.

 

The smart city solutions in the project include air quality, highway wind, gully, waste, and traffic monitoring, which can help councils identify potential problems so they can take preventative measures right away.

 

Cllr Ian Grundy, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “I am extremely excited about the benefits this trial offers by using technology to deliver more for less for our residents.

 

“We currently rely on inspections and residents reporting issues, like blocked gullies, to us across more than 5,000 miles of roads in Essex.

 

“The potential to monitor issues remotely will not only save taxpayers money, it will also improve our reaction times and allow us to fix issues before they become a problem.

 

“Last summer we became the first authority in the country to install ‘smart’ streetlights which offer the potential to monitor pollution, create Wi-Fi hotspots and even guide driverless vehicles in the future. These are now being rolled out across Essex by Ringway Jacobs crews and we believe this work will really complement the smart city partnership work we are doing with Hertfordshire County Council and Telensa.”