Barnsley Council to fix parking sign installed facing the wrong direction after contractor mix-up
The sign on Dodworth Road - meant to show the number of available parking spaces in Barnsley - faces the wrong way
Barnsley Council says a road sign informing drivers of available parking spaces in the town centre will be repositioned after it was mistakenly put up facing drivers heading out of the town centre rather than those travelling in.
The electronic board on Dodworth Road is designed to display the number of available spaces in nearby car parks to help motorists find parking before reaching the town centre. However, the sign was installed facing drivers leaving Barnsley, prompting the borough’s Liberal Democrat councillors to label the blunder ’embarassing’.
In a statement, the council said the sign had been installed incorrectly by external contractors and confirmed that crews had been sent back to the site to correct the mistake.
The authority added that due to the location of the electrical supply, the sign cabinet has to sit on the outbound side of the road, but must be angled to face inbound traffic.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Will Fielding told the local democracy reporting service: “I’m glad that the council has agreed with the Liberal Democrats that these signs are needed, but this error is just embarrasing. It highlights a lack of oversight and communicatio n within the council, and residents deserve better.”
Councillor James Higginbottom, cabinet member for Environment and Highways, told today’s full council meeting that ‘following very robust discussions,’ the contractors had ‘taken full responisbility’ for the error, and are ‘out on site as we speak’.
The corrected signage is part of a wider package of measures aimed at improving parking information for visitors and supporting businesses that have raised concerns about town centre accessibility.