The South London Partnership (SLP), a group of five boroughs, has been awarded £4 million by London Councils to create an Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring system to improve people’s lives through better transport, environment, health and other areas while also improving business retention and sustainable economic growth.
The funding will allow the SLP to develop and deliver a sustainable multi-purpose Internet of Things (IoT) platform which involves connecting various sensors across borough boundaries. The project will bring together technology and places to create spaces that address challenges in our communities and opportunities to help people live better, healthier lives and live independently for longer. It could also deliver significant savings to borough budgets.
The London Councils fund has been awarded to the Partnership, which comprises the councils of Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Sutton, as part of the 2018-19 Business Rate Retention Strategic Investment Pot (SIP).
The project will use IoT to obtain new data insights using internet-connected sensors, with minimal human intervention.
Examples of this insight are:
- Being able to understand where people travel to and from, the routes they take, and what times they undertake their journeys
- Support planning to build the right type of safer and happier communities and enable regeneration
- Insight into where and when people visit certain locations
- Combining air quality and location data to see how many people’s health is affected in certain areas – this can help local authorities make plans to reduce pollutants, resulting in cleaner and healthier places
- Ultimately, we also need to change the way we live our lives – people must better engage with their environment to make it more sustainable for future generations
- Ability to monitor the impact of our lives on the environment (e.g. waste and air pollution)
Ultimately, a national local government IoT network and platform could be developed, including the safe and secure sharing of data between councils, universities and the public.
“We welcome this funding which will enable us to support communities across the borough and south London even more effectively and efficiently.
“Here in Croydon we have an ambitious Smart City programme, which will make our borough and public services smarter and more sustainable using innovative ideas and technologies and is particularly important given the financial pressures we face and the need to respond to the climate and ecological emergency.
“This opportunity from London Councils will assist that programme as well as allowing us and the other authorities in the South London Partnership to identify areas to enable sustainable growth. We’ll now be working with stakeholders to take this project forward and make our boroughs an even better place to live, work and play.”
Councillor Simon Hall, cabinet member for finance and resources
