I understand that Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Transport Secretary Philip Hammond have written to council leaders calling on them to reduce the number of signs and other "street clutter.
At the junction of the Rose Lane / Crab Lane / Sun Street - Biggleswade there is a :
1. Large yellow "patching works" sign for 27th & 28th September 2010
2. Statutory notice attached to post at traffic lights with a date of 24th April 2010 on it.
3. Another statutory notice attached to another adjacent post, ripped and weathered, which I am not sure if it is still valid.
Can you arrange to have these removed please?
I have attached photographs.
On checking online for an update a few days later, this comment had been added:
"These are the "Signal timings changed ahead" signs that were put in for the recent bridge improvements"
I sent Highways another email pointing out that I had sent them photographs and they were nothing to do with timings.
Within hours a chap from Highways rang up to find out where these signs were, apparently he was not sent a copy of the email or the photographs. Having explained the location to him, he said he would get them removed. Driving past today they appeared to have gone.
I couldn't agree more on the importance of reducing street clutter and I am delighted that this issue has also been formally highlighted by both the Communities and Transport Secretaries.
ReplyDeleteUnnecessary signage, bollards, guardrail etc can be found on almost every one of our streets nationally. In addition to making our streetscapes unattractive, clutter also reduces visual clarity, impedes function, is an unnecessary maintenance overhead for the highway authority and in some cases can even be a risk to safety.
I know because I de-clutter streets professionally (shameless plug!) as part of a range of urban highway & transportation consultancy services www.streetscope.co.uk
In fairness to the councils, streetscape auditing is very time consuming, can only be carried out by staff with a particular skillset and there is always an anxiety about exposure to litigation in the event of an accident, so I can appreciate why this isn't always high priority, particularly when they are currently losing staff and funding.
The fact is though that street de-cluttering is highly effective in improving our streets, with no disruption to residents during implementation and will actually pay for itself over time from highway maintenance savings!
I would like to submit Sorrel Way for the (doubtful) accolade of being the 'most signposted' street in Biggleswade.
ReplyDeleteHave a look at the back cover of the Biggleswade Town Plan Document - http://www.biggleswadetownplan.org.uk/files/Biggleswade_Town_Plan_Full_Report.pdf
There must be at least 18 highways-related signs and road markings in a 200 or so metre stretch of street
Surely this is a record?