The UK Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed new burdens funding to help local authorities move to the Digital Traffic Regulation Order (D-TRO) service, with every highway authority in England set to receive a one-year payment of £37,000 – around £5.9m across the sector.
The funding was announced at the DfT’s latest D-TRO technical webinar on 24 September 2026, according to kerbside data company AppyWay, which has shared details of the update. The DfT has not yet published official details, and is expected to do so soon.
Same payment regardless of size
The £37,000 payment is the same for every authority, regardless of its size or whether it already has D-TRO software in place. Payments to authorities outside London are expected from mid-October, with London boroughs to follow.
Authorities can use the money flexibly, putting it towards new software, additional modules or project work with their existing supplier.
“We’ve been campaigning for the digitisation of traffic orders for more than a decade, so this is very welcome news, especially now that funding has been confirmed,” says Dan Hubert, founder and chief executive of AppyWay. “Local authorities can finally leave the dark ages behind. Instead of managing regulation through paper-based processes, they can start focusing on achieving their targets.”
Paid to the authority, not the team
Because the funding will be paid to the authority as a whole rather than directly to traffic order teams, AppyWay is advising those responsible for D-TRO delivery to raise the issue with their head of service or budget holder before the payments arrive.
“I’ve lost count of the conversations I’ve had with traffic order teams who know what needs to be done but have never had the budget to do it. That’s why this matters. £37,000 is a real chance to get ahead of D-TRO,” says Mike Potter, head of commercial at AppyWay.
“My advice is: don’t assume the money will find its way to you. Talk to your head of service now, before it arrives. D-TRO is a statutory requirement for every English Highway Authority, and the teams delivering it should have first call on this funding.”
What is D-TRO?
Traffic regulation orders (TROs) are the legal instruments that underpin road restrictions such as speed limits, parking controls, bus lanes and turning bans. The D-TRO service is intended to replace paper-based TRO publication with a single national digital system, making the data available in a standardised, machine-readable format for use by navigation providers, fleet operators and, in future, connected and automated vehicles.
AppyWay has published further background on the programme on its D-TRO Hub.
