New System Gives Brighton Real-Time Control of Highways

Why It Matters

The digital overhaul gives the council real‑time visibility and control over critical infrastructure, driving efficiency, cost‑effectiveness and improved service for residents. It exemplifies how municipalities can leverage technology to modernise asset management and enhance staff wellbeing.

Key Takeaways

• Brighton council unified road, lighting, and EV asset data in one platform
• Mobile tools let inspectors upload photos and defect reports instantly
• Integrated online reporting cuts manual entry, speeds issue triage
• Dashboards provide transparent KPI tracking and workload balancing
• Phase 2 will add more assets, expanding digital control

Pulse Analysis

The shift toward integrated asset management platforms is reshaping how local governments oversee sprawling infrastructure networks. Brighton & Hove’s new system consolidates disparate data sources—roads, streetlights, signage, rights‑of‑way and EV chargers—into a single, cloud‑based repository. By moving away from legacy spreadsheets and paper‑based logs, the council can now query asset conditions, schedule inspections and generate performance reports with a few clicks, aligning with broader smart‑city initiatives that prioritize data‑driven decision making.

Operational gains are immediate and measurable. Mobile applications empower field crews to capture high‑resolution images, GPS coordinates and condition codes directly from their devices, eliminating the lag between observation and entry. This real‑time flow feeds dashboards that surface key performance indicators, allowing managers to balance workloads, spot peak demand periods and enforce contractor service‑level agreements. The integration of Brightly Software’s Confirm reporting tool further streamlines citizen‑initiated requests, routing them automatically to the appropriate team and prioritising based risk, which improves response times and boosts public satisfaction.

Looking ahead, Brighton’s phased rollout signals a roadmap for other municipalities seeking scalable digital transformation. As the platform expands to cover additional assets—such as drainage, waste collection points or public Wi‑Fi hotspots—it will generate richer datasets that can be leveraged for predictive maintenance and long‑term capital planning. While upfront migration and training costs can be significant, the promise of reduced manual labor, enhanced compliance and better allocation of limited fiscal resources makes such investments increasingly compelling in the era of constrained municipal budgets.