Streets Cluttered with Ugly Design
October 14, 2004 | Levent OZLER
By Amanda Brown, Environment Correspondent, PA News.
Author Bill Bryson will lend his weight to a scheme aiming to protect historic streets from being "trashedR 21; by thoughtlessness and cheap design.
The best-selling author will back English Heritage's Save our Streets campaign which hopes to tackle a rising tide of signs, posts, bollards, poles and barriers.
English Heritage warns that visual chaos from hotchpotch paving and obtrusive traffic signs blights historic villages, towns and cities and affects the quality of people's lives.
Dr Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage said: "Once England had some of the most elegant streets in the world and was famed for the quality of its street furniture.
"Today it is a different story. Our historic streets are being trashed by thoughtlessness and cheap design.
"Some of the worst culprits are local authorities which should be setting an example of enlightened stewardship.
"We need to start by removing the clutter and viewing our streets as historic places in their own right rather than using them as a dumping ground.
"We are all pedestrians and we all deserve better."
More than 20 different agencies are able to install equipment in the streets without any control or co-ordination, often using taxpayers' money and without planning
more: news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3623061 (145)
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