New signs that have gone up in the historic Railway Village and GWR Works areas of Swindon have raised some eyebrows.

Some feel the new explanatory signs for the historic area - now badged as The Works - are too high.

Blogger and heritage fan Angela Atkinson posted on X: “Hate to be critical when it's so much better all along there. But these info signs… I’d need a stepladder to comfortably read them. Why?!”

Ms Atkinson posted a picture of a map and sign at the Sheppard Street underpass, and a sign close to the wall a few yards from the railway station.

While the map pillar is no higher than 6ft high at its topmost point, the accompanying information board is about 7ft high at its lowest point.

For a slightly taller-than-average Adver reporter the text on the board was easy enough to read.

The sign near the railway station is even higher - though larger.

The reason for the height of the information boards is national highway regulations.

Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for planning and placemaking Councillor Marina Strinkovskysaid: “It’s part of the national highways regulations, not the borough council’s policies. If you’re putting signs on or near the pavement, it has to be high enough that people can walk or cycle past it without hitting their head.

“All the other signs about taxi ranks and no stopping are also put up quite high for the same reason.”

The councillor’s point was made when a cyclist went under one such The Works banner boards in Station Road.

The board near the railway station could not be fixed directly to the wall as it is a listed structure and should not be damaged without good reason, so it is held up on two posts almost flush to the wall.

Cllr Strinkovsky added: “Although it’s because of national regulations, I will concede that a cyclist or pedestrian can't pass through the posts because of the wall, so we are looking at what we might do with this one.”

With regard to the information board at the Sheppard Street underpass, Cllr Strinkovsky said: “I don’t think it’s unreasonably high – and it means that more people can read it than if it was lower and only one person can see it.”