Move to reintroduce signs is "cheap publicity stunt"
A PARISH councillor has attacked a move to bring back "olde-worlde" finger signposts as a cheap publicity stunt.
Tim Clarke said the idea of West Sussex County Council to reinstate the signs was actually a way of passing the responsibility of maintaining them on to parish councils.
"These signs are currently the responsibility of the county council," said the Sompting parish councillor.
"However, over a number of years, they have failed to maintain them and a number have now fallen into a state of disrepair."
Saviours
Mr Clarke added: "The essence of this wonderful new strategy is to pass over the responsibility of looking after our traditional signposts to parish and town councils.
"Not only will the county council not be bringing them up to the standard in which they should have maintained them in the first place; they will not be giving any funding to the local councils to maintain them, either.
"In one single statement, they have washed their hands of their responsibilities and lumbered local councils instead, yet claim that they are the saviours of our historic signposts."
Mr Clarke said one sign in Sompting had been broken for well over a year, but repeated attempts to get the county council to repair it had been ignored.
Historic
"I am sure parish councils would be happy to take over responsibility for maintaining historic assets like this, but West Sussex must face up to its responsibilities," said Mr Clarke.
A spokesman for the county council said help and practical advice would be available for parish and town councils taking on the signs.
Derek Whittington, cabinet member for strategic planning and transport said: "We have drawn up a guide which includes advice to help ensure repairs are done to a high standard and the important local community identity can be maintained through the use of the traditional fingerposts.
"Money for fingerpost projects may be available from our network of county local committees, all of which have a community grant fund designed to support local projects."
Resources
Mr Whittington said the county council had to concentrate its resources on road maintenance and safety schemes.
"We are not required to retain fingerposts, but we know how popular they are with many communities, and that is the reason for this new enabling guide," he said.
-------------------------------------
Click here for more Lancing news.
Where are you? Add your pin to the Herald's international readers' map by clicking here.
Email the Herald: letters@worthingherald.co.uk
Want to read this page in French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Urdu or 48 other languages? click here for Google translate.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Worthing
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 3 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
