Clear the clutter from our streets
IT IS nearly 10 years since the UK coalition government launched a campaign to reduce street clutter.
The idea, presented as part of The Big Society’s push to return power to local communities, argued that many of the signs, railings and bollards that dominate the nation’s streetscapes are unnecessary.
Not only that, they are unsafe.
Ministers urged local councils – who mistakenly believed that the signs were legally required – to take action and cut the clutter.
It was a UK campaign but, as anyone who takes a wander around the Bridge will see, it has huge local relevance.
Scores of traffic poles, many without any purpose, are planted across the shopping precinct while those that do have signs are often contradictory.
Parish officials from the Vale and St Sampson’s are to be congratulated for their work in bringing the problem to islanders’ attention and totting up the damage.
For it is easy to ignore the multitude of signs, many of which have been there for years and can be overlooked as part of the (street) furniture.
That familiarity does not mean, however, that the signs, railings, bollards and other paraphernalia have no effect. Instead, they contribute to the overall impression of the Bridge as cluttered, untidy and, in parts, ugly.
They also present a mental obstacle for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians who struggle to take in all the conflicting messages while passing through.
Confused motorists are not safe drivers, as one UK council learned when it removed the clutter and cut accidents by 47%.
In many cases the street furniture also adds up to a physical barrier for shoppers, including disabled people, to negotiate.
The Bridge, of course, is not alone in this affliction. St Peter Port and most of the island’s local centres suffer just as badly. The coastal car parks are blighted not just by a host of standing signs but freestanding ones warning against selling cars.
A spring clean is badly needed. Parishes can play their part but this is a job for the States.
That would be the same States, of course, that has a great big stack of new 25mph signs and poles just waiting to be installed.