Island Life Magazine Ltd June/July 2012 | Page 101

COUNTRY LIFE

Countryliving
Sign of the times?
Road and traffic signs now pervade every

village sign so what purpose is served by a sign

corner of the Island and really do impact on the

so small it cannot be viewed from a moving

visual appeal of our green and pleasant land.

vehicle and of minimal aesthetic merit I can

I do question as to whether we really need

Sam Biles explores
the spread of
modern signs and
street furniture into
our pretty villages
and leafy lanes.

only conclude that, in these times of supposed

so many signs and whether they are more

austerity these expensive-looking signs have

of a hindrance and distraction to drivers and

been put up to benefit any parachutists or

road users. They really blight some buildings.

Tardis-borne time travellers who materialise

A width restriction sign obliterates the view of

in the middle of a village with no knowledge

a fine carved stone roundel on the side of the

of how they got there. They simply can’t be for

1684 Castle Inn in Newport. In Calbourne the

the benefit of ramblers who are now so well

siting of the No Access sign for Winkle Street

equipped with GPS smart phones.

completely dominates the pretty John Nash
Lodge to Westover House.
Recently a large number of diamond–shaped

Cowes High Street is largely pedestrianised
and yet, every few yards, there are No Parking
signs on poles – how on earth are the cars

green signs atop galvanised poles have

supposed to get there to park when between

appeared across the Island – often in the centre

the hours of 10.00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. they are

of villages with the village name on them. To

banned anyway?

enter a village you surely have to pass the

This over-zealous use of signage is a real
blight on the Island’s greatest asset – its natural
beauty. Whilst there is a certain logic to the
standardisation of signage throughout the
UK, reducing every county to a monotonous
parade of identical signs – with their don’t do
this and don’t do that messages – robs each
area of its individuality and charm. It may be
less important in modern urban areas but on
country lanes and in pretty Georgian market
towns like Newport it really is a blight that we
could well do without.

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