Council begin crackdown on roadside signage
Leitrim County Council is one of a number of local authorities cracking down on businesses who erect roadside signage on national routes following a request from the National Roads Authority.
In a statement issued to the Leitrim Observer, a spokesperson confirmed Leitrim County Council is currently reviewing its policy on roadside signage "and have carried out a clearance of such signs along the N15 Sligo/Bundoran Road and on the N4 approaching Carrick-on-Shannon".
It is not clear what format these clearances have taken but other local authorities have already begun issuing fines to businesses contravening legislation against such signage.
Local Cllr Enda Stenson has pointed out that with so many villages and towns now bypassed by the national routes there has to be some indication of the facilities available in the affected areas.
"Locals may know where these businesses are in Drumsna, Jamestown, Rooskey and Dromod for example, but the only way a stranger to the area would know what is in these villages is through the use of signage," he said.
While he accepted there had to be some rules laid down about the erection of signage he stressed that businesses were already under substantial pressure and a blanket ban on signage was not the answer.
"You can't just have a knee jerk reaction because businesses and communities are going to suffer as a result," he warned.
"Anyway, there is nothing more offensive on our national routes than the huge signage erected by the NRA themselves promoting the funders and naming those involved in a particular road project. If rules are enforced about road signage surely they should take into account this type of signage as well?"
Farming organisations have also criticised the crackdown on signage as heavy handed. Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) rural development chairperson, John Barron, asked if bureaucrats had "nothing better to be doing".
"While nobody wants to see the landscape defaced by a proliferation of gaudy signs, the reality is that signs are often required to assist hard pressed businesses who need to inform the public of their existence and their whereabouts," he said.
Mr Barron said he objected to the heavy handed approach by local authorities of imposing "insanely severe fines" instead of sitting down with the people involved.
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Weather for Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland
Thursday 17 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 6 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
