Sign torn down to comply with health and safety rules

A VILLAGE noticeboard is to be torn down to comply with “daft” health and safety laws.

Residents in Stuntney reportedly laughed out loud when builders informed them that the new information point could be a hazard because it is only secured by a single post.

It will be ripped up and replaced because regulations say it must have two posts but villagers say: “The whole thing is just ridiculous.”

Stuntney website editor Rodney Vincent said: “This is just more evidence that health and safety law is getting silly.

“When it was installed a few months ago, the supporting post was concreted into the ground. It is hardly likely to fall over.

“They have now decided to come and replace a perfectly good sign because it has only got one post.

“It all makes work for the working man to do.”

The noticeboard was put up by the City of Ely Council earlier this year after residents asked for a replacement.

But Mr Vincent said guidance from Cambridgeshire County Council meant it had to be taken down.

”The noticeboard was only installed a few months ago, replacing an old rotting wooden one. We in the village were very grateful to Ely City Council for providing it for us.

“Will our village sign be next? It has only got one post. What about lamp-posts and other signs? If you have this daft rule, you don’t know where it stops.”

He added that city council members thought the action to be “a bit over the top”.

A spokeswoman for Ely City Council said: “We arranged for the replacement of the notice board.

“We installed it and then the county council deemed that it wasn’t secure enough, saying that it needed another leg.”

She added that the authority would do what the county council had asked.

Mark Kemp, service director highways and access at Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “It is really important that signs on the public highway are securely mounted for the safety of all road users and there are national design guidelines to make sure signs remain where they are put and are not twisted by the wind or knocked down by passing lorries.

“This was a case a few months ago when a sign blew off its mountings and flew on to the road near Witchford.

“We believe that the sign at Stuntney is not properly supported and so, for the safety of the public, we have asked the City of Ely Council to provide additional support for the sign.

“We are happy to help the city council with this work should they need any assistance.”