Project Spotlight: Live Labs 2

Over the past few months, NEYEDC have been working with East Riding of Yorkshire Council as part of the UK-wide, £30m Live Labs 2 project.

In partnership with the Department for Transport, Live Labs 2 aims to ‘decarbonise local roads’ and is using hubs around the UK to deliver projects grouped around four themes: ‘the UK as a centre of excellence for materials, corridor and place-based decarbonisation, a green carbon laboratory, and a future lighting testbed’. East Riding of Yorkshire Council is the lead local authority for the latter project, based around street and road lighting – the ‘visual environment’ of a road.

New low-level pedestrian lighting in Hayton.

In East Yorkshire the project area centres around 30km of test routes, which include areas passing through Hayton, Market Weighton, Barmby Moor, Cottingham, and Dunswell. In Hayton, the project is looking to explore the impact of reducing street lighting along main roads and side roads in the village, instead replacing the latter with pedestrian lighting, and making changes to the way signage is illuminated, all whilst maintaining safety for road users.

Whilst changes in street and road lighting have positive impacts on the carbon footprint of infrastructure – a single streetlight has a carbon footprint of approximately 2.5 tonnes of CO2 per year, equal to 12,000 miles of UK road travel at 50mpg! – and a reduction in light pollution, there may also be benefits to wildlife, particularly nocturnal animals such as bats, moths, and badgers. To help determine whether this is the case, NEYEDC have joined the project to provide expertise in recording wildlife in the village of Hayton, the subsequent management of the data, and engagement with naturalists and the public.

Camera trap video footage showing a Badger in a clearing in Hayton village.

So far, we have been involved in deploying and maintaining a number of camera traps and audio traps at sites around the village, collecting imagery, video, and sound recordings which will provide insight into how and what species are using the area. The cameras are aiming to record constantly, day and night, for the course of the project, to capture daytime activity as well as nocturnal. Moth traps are also being deployed regularly, to build a picture of the species diversity that occurs in the village; moths are brilliant indicator species as to the state of the wider environment. The cameras have already captured footage of a range of species, including Fox, Roe Deer, Buzzard, Heron, Badger, and bats.

As well as practical involvement in the collection of data, we will also be involved in the processing of the resulting footage, images, and sound recordings. The latter is planned to pass through the BTO Acoustic Pipeline, which will enable us to identify the specific species captured on sound recording equipment quickly and reliably.

In addition to remote recording, we are also planning a traditional recording day in conjunction with Hull Natural History Society, where naturalists and Hayton residents will be invited to record wildlife around the village. Residents will also have the opportunity to be introduced to recording apps such as iNaturalist, that can be used to monitor wildlife over a longer period of time and that support beginner recorders. We have already created an iNaturalist project for the area, which can be found here: Hayton and Burnby Parish Wildlife Recording · iNaturalist United Kingdom. We hope that residents will be encouraged to keep up the habit of recording throughout Live Labs 2, which is scheduled to end in March 2026, giving us a more comprehensive view of biodiversity in the village.

One of the project camera traps set up in a clearing.

It's hoped that with the support and engagement of the local community, the Live Labs 2 project in East Yorkshire can not only act as a pilot for new low-carbon approaches to our road systems but also highlight the all-important benefits and impacts on our wildlife. You can read more about Live Labs 2 in East Riding here: https://www.eastriding.gov.uk/environment/roads-streets-traffic-and-parking/roads-pavements-and-traffic/live-labs-2/.