Boost for Imperial road-signs means metric road-signs may be abandoned
forever
August 2 2005 at 7:25 PM Tony Bennett
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Great news!
This report, in today's 'Daily Telegraph', which will see millions of
pounds spent on maintaining a fantastic array of historic distance signs
across the length and breadth of Britain in Imperial, sounds the death-knell
for UKMA-inspired plans to waste ｣1 billion of the country's precious money
on the wholly unnecessary conversion of a million-plus road signs to metric.
Revival of all these road signs in Imperial, some of them going back
to 1669, hardly advances the cause of metric road signs, does it?
[Psssst! Don't tell the European Union about this...]
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Campaign in rural areas points the way to traditional signposting
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor (Filed: 02/08/2005)
Traditional signposts, or fingerposts, should be maintained and
reintroduced because they are a key part of the identity of rural areas, the
Government and English Heritage say in a report today.
A campaign to stiffen local authorities' resolve to maintain wood and
cast-iron fingerposts is contained in a Department of Transport leaflet,
Traditional Direction Signs, to be sent to councils and highway agencies.
Philip Davies of English Heritage said: "Traditional direction signs
are an integral part of the character of the English countryside and
suburbs. They enrich the countryside wherever they are found. Many still
survive, but are in urgent need of repair and restoration".
No one knows exactly how many traditional signposts exist, though the
oldest fingerpost, from the Cotswolds, dates from 1669. They were widely
used by the 1740s when turnpike trusts were encouraged to mark every mile of
road and in 1766 this became compulsory to help stagecoach and mail services
to keep to timetables.
Early 20th century signs were erected initially by the AA and RAC but,
after 1903, the responsibility passed to local authorities.
Although based on a common model, local authorities have considerable
discretion over design, which led to a rich variety of styles. Dorset,
Somerset, Devon and Cornwall had red posts with white lettering, others had
finials in the form of discs marked with county names and grid references.
Many were removed after a new standard national style was launched in
the 1960s, but pre-1964 signs remain legal. The main threat came from
councils' failure to maintain them. It was not until 1964, however, that it
was made legal to install new fingerposts.
English Heritage, the Government's conservation advisers, is calling
for fingerposts to be regularly maintained as part of councils' maintenance
budgets in local transport plans. Funding for repairing or reintroducing
them - as part of village design statements, parish plans and quiet lanes -
exists under the Local Heritage Initiative, a scheme funded by the Heritage
Lottery Fund and the Nationwide Building Society.
English Heritage today publishes eight regional manuals on removing
superfluous traffic signs, bollards, poles and other visual clutter. The
manuals even advise on the least obtrusive way to place CCTV and recycling
bins.
The campaign favours the Dutch "woonerf" tradition of street design
that assumes traffic and social activities share the same space. This
combines design and behavioural psychology to raise driver awareness, reduce
traffic speeds and improve safety.
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