Fury At Sign Removal Plan

Highways bosses are to review their decision to remove signs on the A14, marking the historic Battle Of Naseby site.

It follows uproar from those involved in the Naseby Battlefield project – who have spent years raising money for improve the site – and say they are horrified at the move.

Around 20,000 people a year visit the site, where the decisive battle of the English Civil War took place in 1645.

Highways England contacted them to say the signs, including the ‘brown’ tourist ones, would go following a decision to only put them up if an attraction gets at least 150,000 visitors a year.

Earl Spencer is the Patron of the Naseby Battlefield Trust and has voiced his anger on Twitter:

@HighwaysEngland have (unbelievably) said they’ll withdraw the one, single, sign they have to the site of the battle of #Naseby After Hastings it’s hard to think of a more important battle on English soil – even @HighwaysEngland must know that. ONE sign… Please think again.

— Charles Spencer (@cspencer1508) March 1, 2019

A Highways England spokesman told Hfm: “We want people to get to tourist and leisure destinations safely and by the best route, but we also have to ensure we don’t clutter our network with signs, that we prioritise sites with the greatest traffic management or safety needs, and that we minimise any impact on the environment.

“So we regularly review brown tourist signs on our network, and, if circumstances have changed, we may need to remove the signs when we have other planned work in the area.

“In relation to Naseby we will review our decision because we do appreciate the significance of the site.”