Brown Tourism Road Signs

White on brown tourist signs are part of the family of directional signs. Their main purpose is to guide visitors to a pre-selected destination along the most appropriate route during the latter stages of their journey, particularly where destinations are difficult to find. Like any form of road signing, tourist signs are only an aid to safe and efficient navigation. They cannot replace pre-planning material such as maps.

Brown Tourism Signs in Leicestershire are dealt with by the Highway Design Team at Leicestershire County Council (LCC).  LCC’s policy is compatible with neighbouring counties and gives equitable treatment to all venues of a particular type.  

Brown Tourism Signs should not be considered as advertisements for your premises.  They are to give directions to tourists to enable them to find your premises in a safe and efficient manner..

Although it may seem a simple matter to have a sign put up near your business, please remember that there are road safety, quality and 'sign pollution' issues to assess before applications can be approved. There is an application process, and your application will be judged against a range of eligibility criteria, as well as against road safety and traffic management factors.

Too many signposts spoil the look and feel of an area, and can make it confusing and distracting for the driver. It is important that the impact of new and additional signposting is taken into consideration when each application is assessed. Leicestershire is a rural county of great charm and there is a risk that a proliferation of signs can potentially  reduce that appeal.  In addition, too many signs along a route can create a distraction for road users. To protect against this, LCC reserve the right to refuse even eligible applications for the wider benefit of the local population and visitors. Therefore, not all eligible applications will be approved, particularly in areas where there is already a proliferation of signs. In some cases applicants will be encouraged to take up shared tourism signposting with other local facilities on the same route.

Initially the following conditions must be met by all applicants before a scheme will be considered:

In addition, there are a number of specific conditions that must be met depending on the type of tourist attraction/facility and these are detailed in the application pack we will send out to you on request.

Applicants pay a non-refundable £170 application fee (no VAT payable), and then, if successful, are responsible for the cost of sign designs at a rate of £100 per sign for the first four signs and thereafter £75 per sign.  In addition there are construction costs associated with erecting these signs.  A scheme with four signs can cost anything upwards from £1000 as requirements vary greatly according for each site. Therefore, construction costs cannot be determined until the design has been finalised.  The construction costs  are paid after the signs have been installed.

Although the signs remain the property of LCC, the cost of any maintenance or replacement of the signs after erection will be the responsibility of the applicant.

The bullet points below show a summary of the scheme processes and an approximate time each takes to complete:

Please bear the above period in mind when you make your application.   If you are seeking a specific date to have the signs installed by, then some advanced planning will be required on your part.

Thank you.

For more information and an application pack, please call 0116 305 6787 or email highwaydesign@leics.gov.uk putting “Tourism Signs” in the subject line.