Sign warning drivers about children must go
A SIGN aimed at warning motorists on a busy road to watch out for children has fallen foul of the planners.
The planning department has issued a compliance notice on Colin and Andrea Dodd ordering that they remove a triangular children warning sign erected without permission beside Route du Coudre in St Peter’s.
But Mr Dodd said the sign had been there for years.
‘The sign was here well before I bought the property about a year ago – I’d say it has been there six or seven years,’ he said.
‘It has fallen over and been put back up and we kept it when we moved in because this is a dangerous part of the road.’
Mr Dodd said he was called by the Development & Planning Authority to inform him of the notice. He believed it was reported to them by the St Peter’s constables.
‘Planning thought that we had put the sign up recently, but when I said it had been here since well before I moved in, Planning said if the sign had been there for more than four years it could remain there,’ he said.
‘I said to Planning that if they could guarantee the safety of my three children and the horses that I’d have no problem taking the sign down, but I was told this was not their area.’
Mr Dodd has been told he can apply to the DPA to erect a sign with correct permissions, but he feels that this process will take too long.
‘The sign is there because in this part of the road people fly up and down, it’s a part of the road where cars and bikes go at speed and we have a concealed exit,’ he said.
‘There have been several incidents where the horses have been startled. We need to slow people down.’
The DPA have given Mr and Mrs Dodd until 19 November to remove the sign before further action is taken.
