Volunteers who clean road signs in Crowborough have been thanked by East Sussex County Council (ESCC) – but told they should be reporting them instead.
Members of Brighter Crowborough, who do weekly litter picks and have cleaned hundreds of dirty roads signs, have been told they shouldn’t be putting themselves at risk.
Crowborough News contacted ESCC after questions were asked on one of our Facebook posts about why the council was not cleaning the signs, and why it was down to community volunteers to do it.
A spokesperson responded: “We appreciate the efforts of Brighter Crowborough to keep the town clean and tidy however, we would encourage people to report these issues to us to ensure this kind of work can be done safely and without putting members of the public at risk.
“We have almost 50,000 signs on the county’s road network and will respond to reports of signs that have become dirty and present a safety issue made by our highways stewards or members of the public. People can report issues to us directly by visiting https://live.eastsussexhighways.com/report-problem
But David Collumbell from Brighter Crowborough said reporting issues is pointless. “I have reported signs to ESCC so many times. Dirty signs, loose signs, broken signs, signs with missing letters…and I always get the same response. They say it has been inspected and no further action is required. I have never had any success reporting a sign.”
Mr Collumbell, who always wears hi-vis when doing his voluntary work, added that he is very aware of safety issues, and is always careful not to put himself or any volunteers at risk. “If a sign is out of reach, or it’s clearly not safe, I just won’t do it – simple as that.”
He said he has also made suggestions to ESCC about how they could more efficiently clean road signs. “I’ve said to them they should clean signs as par for the course when there’s roadworks or when they have to close a road.”