Scruffy signs' bad for trade'

Members of Seaford Chamber of Commerce say they have been asking for action for the last 18 months and feel the matter is now urgent.

President of the chamber, Lyn Kemp, said: 'You would not even know there was a town centre in Seaford if you were at the sea front. There are no signs for tourists and we are supposed to be attracting them.

'The Welcome to Seaford signs are shabby and dirty and the visitors coming in and seeing them are not going to think "what a well-kept town" and that is why we have been pulling our hair out for the last 18 months.'

Mrs Kemp said all the signs needed replacing, signs to the car parks were faint and unnoticeable, the welcome signs were dirty and clumsy while the finger-post signs pointing pedestrians to places like the seafront and station were dirty and hard to notice.

Three different authorities are responsible for the various signs.

* The Welcome to Seaford signs on the A259 are the responsibility of East Sussex County Council

* The parking signs '“ Lewes District Council

* The fingerposts '“ Seaford Town Council

Mike Wright, the town council's administration manager, said negotiations were still taking place with the county council and no formal decisions had been made about the exact type of signs.

The town council is keen to include the town's flag and Fairtrade status on any replacement signs.

The chamber of commerce is so unhappy about the state of the signs on the outskirts of the town that members were prepared to clean them up.

Mrs Kemp said: 'I have been warned we can't clean them ourselves because of health and safety regulations.

'The businesses need it doing and we just want it done.'

Mrs Kemp also said there were no signs on the approach to the temporary tourist information centre, currently in portable buildings in the West Street car park.

She added: 'People like to visit tourist information centres when they go somewhere new but you wouldn't even know there was one in Seaford.

'We have had several meetings with Seaford Town Council and we walked round the town with a map and plotted where the signs should be.

'It has been a quiet summer and the weather didn't help but not having the town centre signposted doesn't help either.'

A spokesman for the county council said: 'The county council is fully prepared to supply new entrance signs to Seaford. We have been working toward this with Seaford Town Council and the chamber of commerce to agree a clear specification of the signs required. We have also discussed tourist signs with the town council.'