Readers have their say on new Spalding signs

Are new signs a ‘waste of money’ or useful for would-be tourists to the area? Readers have had their say…

Eleven red tourist information signs have been installed at various locations as part of the Spalding Reconnected project - which aimed to celebrate the town’s heritage using a £233,163 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A heritage strategy, a banner, willow sculptures and new riverbank ‘biospheres’ have also been created as a result of this project.

But the addition of the signs - which are designed to raise awareness of the town’s attractions - has not received a totally positive response from our readers.

‘Waste of money’ is a common comment from some of the readers.

Natalie Emily Wadsworth was one of the people who have raised concerns about the signs.

She posted on our Facebook page: “What is in town that would attract tourism? It's run down, half closed. The (former) Johnson hospital is an eyesore and that is a beautiful building allowed to run into diliapidatio, none of the shops in the main pedestrian area are anything to write home about.

“Nothing celebrates the town’s history except a few tiny bronze and a bit of signage. Honestly it's pathetic.”

But she did suggest that adding information about the bronze statues - which are part of the Portrait of a Town trail - to the signs would be better.

The state of parts of the riverbank has also been highlighted.

Jane Cooper posted: “We regularly walk the riverbank and feel ashamed of broken railings, dangerous potholes and rubbish strewn.

“It would be nice if the blacksmiths forge opposite could be asked to make some decorative railings to replace the dangerous broken ones. Obviously local red tape would no doubt hold up the decision.”

Spalding and District Civic Society chairman John Bland believes the signs will help visitors and new residents to discover attractions such as Spalding Gentlemen’s Society.

He posted: “They make the statement that we are open for business and visitors are welcome. This can only be a positive thing for the town's economy.”

But in a debate with Natalie Wadsworth, he did state that the signs have space for more information to be added.

He said: “This aspect of the project did not go as well as I had hoped for. As a consequence, it does need some further work which I hope will be done in the future. One of the challenges was finding old images of sufficient clarity for reproduction and it was very late in the day that I became aware of the issue when the Civic Society were asked to comment on them before the signs were finalised. I am sure though that lessons have been heard.”

David Jones posted that he liked the signs as ‘they make the place look cared-for’.

But James Finister stated that people were making a ‘ falsedichotomy’ between the signs and dealing with street drinkers.

He said: “As an ex-police statistician I can tell you that what works are lots of micro actions like this, like the work of the Wombles, that builds an environment that becomes unattractive to the anti-social elements.”