Too many signs and bollards 'are disfiguring our streets'

 

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 11:41 PM on 23rd August 2010

 

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Streets across the country are being ‘disfigured’ by tens of thousands of unnecessary road signs, bollards, posts and railings, a campaign dossier revealed last night.

 

Civic groups said the rapid growth in ugly ‘clutter’ was blighting otherwise attractive neighbourhoods and high streets.

 

Council health and safety zealots were blamed for wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on ‘street furniture’ that is intended to prevent accidents but can actually make an area more dangerous.

 

 

Every which way: Civic groups say the increase in signs is creating ugly clutter and potentially dangerous confusion

 

Surveys estimate there are ‘dozens’ of individual items of clutter on every street, while some roads have several hundred.

 

Detailed briefing notes released by the charity campaign group Civic Voice as part of its Street Pride dossier reveal:

 

 

• Guard rails used to protect pedestrians ‘can cause accidents or increase the risks to people - such as where cyclists get caught between them and large vehicles'.
  
• New poles are erected to carry CCTV and numberplate cameras, street lights and traffic signals, often right next to existing poles where they could easily be supported without cluttering up the skyline.
  
• Bollards are used to stop cars parking on pavements when lifting the height of the kerb would achieve the same thing without the clutter.
  
• Multiple signs are erected even when they are not needed. On some roads there are so many signs it is impossible for drivers to try to read them all - and potentially dangerous to try.
  

Tony Burton, director of Civic Voice, said Britain was being ‘disfigured’, adding: ‘People are fed up with these things getting in their way.

 

‘They look awful, they clutter the pavement, particularly if you have shopping or are pushing a buggy. They undermine the pride people have in where they live. They are a waste of money, a waste of effort and it saps at people’s energy and civic pride.’

Hundreds of local civic groups are lobbying councils to urge them to reduce the amount of street clutter.

 

However, Matthew Bradby, chairman of Tottenham Civic Society, said protests often fell on deaf ears, adding: ‘There always seems to be enough money to put a new sign up. They don’t fix the problem, they just put up a sign telling you something is dangerous.’

 

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: ‘The vast majority of street signs, bollards and railings are in place for safety reasons. However, councils are supportive of any move to improve streets and reduce clutter.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305568/Too-signs-bollards-disfiguring-streets.html#ixzz0xTNmGw2k

i hate madrid mainly for when going there on the high way it have unuseful signs:

 

all directions

 

:wtf: i'm waiting for a number not to that.

signs appear and disappear and one gets lost easily.

 

another thing is when there's no sign of the street and you walk looking for a place being totallly clueless.

 

[/rant]

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