Poles Apart

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Poles Apart

February 21st, 2011 by Steven Baker MP

Download the book: Poles Apart.

MPs’ pamphlet calls for action to save money and energy on unnecessary road signs

Press release – 19 Feb 2011

Conservative MPs Nadhim Zahawi, Steve Baker, Anne Main and Julian Smith have today published Poles Apart – ‘how to get rid of a million useless road signs’, a pamphlet drawing attention to the visual blight and waste of public money caused by pointless and unnecessary road signs.

Poles Apart builds on the prior work of the Minister of State for International Development Alan Duncan MP and describes the problems of unnecessary and useless signs before promoting a series of new rules to curb them and a Big Society empowerment to help local residents tackle the issue in their own areas.

Speaking at the pamphlet’s launch Nadhim Zahawi, Member of Parliament for Stratford on Avon said:

“Across the country Councils and other organisations have blighted our roads, towns, cities and countryside with unnecessary and expensive signs. The claim that they must have a sign every 10 feet because the law and regulations tell them to simply isn’t true. This pamphlet is our attempt to clarify the situation and suggest some solutions.”

“At the heart of our solution is the public. Identifying problem signage and getting something done about it is the Big Society in Action, but Officers often fail to respond to issues the public raise. Or they blame tight budget for being unable to do anything about it, whilst wasting money erecting yet more unnecessary signs elsewhere. This has to change and we hope that this pamphlet will be the catalyst to do just that.”

The pamphlet singles out over 15 types of signs as predominately unnecessary and overused and blames a number of organisations for the increased blight that road signs have made in recent years. These organisations include The Highways Agency, Local Councils, Highways contractors, Transport for London, BAA and other airport operators, service and petrol stations and even supermarket chains.

The MPs have laid out a series of clear rules that if followed would significantly improve the look of our roads and save money. The simple rules include positioning signs correctly, only illuminating signs when they need to be, ensuring that new signs aren’t installed in front of old, not replicating signs where they aren’t needed, stopping pole tops from protruding and considering height and symmetry.

Steve Baker, Member of Parliament for Wycombe said:

“Given that the previous Government has left us borrowing £500 million a day and paying £120 million a day in interest alone, it’s obviously vitally important that we do all we can to get the deficit down. More sensible deployment of road signs is just one way we could contribute to that effort without affecting front line services. A few simple measures, explained in this pamphlet, could actually improve matters for road users.”

The pamphlet also suggests that sanctions of between £250 and £500 should be put in place for Councils that fail to adhere to these rules and to respond to complaints from residents.

Julian Smith, Member of Parliament for Skipton and Ripon said:

“This is not about important signs like brown tourist destination signs that boost our local economies, it is about superfluous signs. For too long many councils have failed to listen to the concerns and feedback from residents, citing regulations and rules and the cost of fixing something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. The world is changing though and the winds of Localism and the Big Society blowing through town halls across the country must be listened to.”

In a call for the Secretary of State for Transport and Local Government to work together to empower Localism and the Big Society the pamphlet says:

“Councils’ decisions about whether and where to place road signs is one of the most deficient and incompetent areas of government. Their subsequent lack of responsiveness to local complaints compounds that disgrace. The result is hundreds of thousands of useless, unnecessary, expensive and ugly road signs which councils do nothing to remove or improve.

“The time has come to force them to take action. Localism and the Big Society, together, should empower citizens to demand councils meet higher standards of aesthetics and administrative competence. We urge the Secretaries of State for Transport and Local Government to work together to make this happens.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Nadhim Zahawi was elected the Member of Parliament for Stratford on Avon in May 2010 and is a member of the Business Innovation and Skills Select Committee.
Steve Baker was elected the Member of Parliament for Wycombe in May 2010. He is a member of the Transport Select Committee.
Anne Main is the Member of Parliament for St Albans and has previously served on the Energy and Climate Change, and Communities and Local government Select Committees.
Julian Smith was elected the Member of Parliament for Skipton and Ripon in May 2010.

2 Responses

Alan W Perks writes:

February 22nd, 2011 at 08:44

Brilliant idea! The sooner that this is actioned the better for all. Well done!

Simon writes:

February 22nd, 2011 at 09:58

I am relieved to hear that attention is being made to wasteful and unnecessary things such as these. I have been concerned for sometime at how carefully and efficiently our councils spend our money.

Another item that is closely related is traffic lights. They’ve been springing up over High Wycombe at an alarming rate! So much so, that it made me wonder if someone or company (or both) is benefitting financially from these installations. Getting from one side of town to the other takes an obscene amount of time these days. Sitting at traffic lights that have turned red while nothing (or very little) happens at the junction in front of you is at best frustrating and at worst bad for the environment. These inefficient systems keep the car idling for little or no reason, wasting petrol and worst of all, pumping out exhaust fumes while waiting. Surely a sensible give way junction or roundabout would let the traffic flow just as well, if not better, cost less to install, cost less to maintain, cost less energy to power.

I leave you with what seems to me to be the theory behind Wycombe’s road strategy: Why have a roundabout when you can have a roundabout with traffic lights on it.