A QUIET city street has been festooned with 58 road signs in just 600 metres – making it “the most cluttered in Scotland”.
Orchard Road in Edinburgh has a sign on average every 10 metres, the vast majority of them pay and display notices telling residents where they can park.
To make matters worse, some of the signs have been placed on the pavement, making the street, just west of the city centre, an obstacle course.
Baffled locals are demanding that Edinburgh Council remove some of the signs but officials have refused to back down, claiming a sign is needed for each driveway.
They point out that the leafy street – where homes cost upwards of £500,000 – is not even popular with parking commuters. On some work days, as few as three motorists use the dozens of pay and display spaces.
Dave Grant, 79, a retired British Airways worker, said: “I’ve lived in this street for 29 years and we’ve never had anything like this.
“You look out your window and all you can see are these pay and display signs – they’re all over the pace.
“I let the tree in my front garden grow so I don’t have to look at the sign outside my door.
“The whole thing is ridiculous. You see the odd traffic warden on a scooter but hardly anyone parks here and we’ve been left with all these signs.”
Neighbour Lynn Ward, 46, added: “Who invented the rule that you need to have one after every driveway? The thing is, the street is empty. No one parks here.
“There’s three cars in the street at the moment, yet we have 58 parking signs. I know neighbours who are letting their hedges grow so they don’t have to look at the signs.”
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Alex Johnstone said: “The people of Edinburgh know fine well just how over-the-top the parking warden situation is. They don’t need to be reminded to such ludicrous extents.
“Quite why anyone thought having this many signs was a good use of time or money is a mystery, not to mention the adverse impact it has on the street itself.”
David Spaven, of charity Living Streets Edinburgh, which campaigns for more walking-friendly spaces in the city called for a solution to the jumble of signs.
He said: “Edinburgh’s pavements are becoming increasingly like obstacle courses for pedestrians.
“What’s really needed is an integrated system of street management, tackling problems like unnecessary signage, so that walking becomes a much more pleasant means of transport, and the street environment is more attractive to the eye.”
A council spokeswoman said: “The signage requirements to make these regulations enforceable are set out in UK legislation.
“While the council seeks to minimise this, the number of signs on Orchard Road are due to the number of driveways present and the requirement to locate signs close to parking bays.”
