KILDARE GENERAL, 25 July: by Brian Byrne. The erection of 'tourist route' signs around the county has being challenged by a claim that they are 'unauthorised'.
The signs, which are a joint project between KELT and Kildare County Council, were erected under work carried out in conjunction with both KELT and Kildare County Council and the exact locations for the signs were decided by the Road Design Department of Kildare County Council. They outline various tourist routes, and indicate local facilities where they are placed on the entrances to towns and villages.
Deputy Emmet Stagg says the signs are in part 'semi-official litter' and he has asked that those who erected them be prosecuted by the Litter Warden for each sign.
He has also asked Kildare County Council's Planning Department to investigate whether the signs have planning permissions. Otherwise, he says, they are 'unauthorised developments' and should be removed.
At the most recent meeting of the Celbridge Area Committee, Deputy Stagg asked why a motion passed at the previous meeting to remove the signs in Straffan had not been acted on.
"It's not clear even what the symbols on them mean," he says. "Does a horshoe on the one going into Maynooth mean there is a stud in the town, or what? And a teacup on the ones at Straffan doesn't mean much ... the only place you can get a cup of tea in Straffan is the K Club."
Meanwhile, Deputy Stagg described the signs as 'the worst form of Quango abuse'. "They are poorly designed," he concluded. "The designers should have looked at similar ones on other parts of the country, which are nicely built on arched poles and have the town's name prominent on them."
©2001brianbyrne/knn