MORE controversial advertising signs will be installed on roundabouts across Worcester despite concerns about their appearance.

Petitions were signed and letters of objection were submitted but that was not enough to put a stop to a scheme that will see more than 40 signs pop up on 23 roundabouts.

The overall number is less than first mooted, though, because Warndon Parish Council managed to negotiate the number on each roundabout in that area of the city to be reduced from four to two.

One roundabout at Woodgreen Drive, Hastings Drive and Bearcroft Avenue was also rejected while applications relating to two other sites – Cathedral roundabout and at the junction near Gheluvelt Park – were withdrawn.

The signs are actually smaller than ones on roundabouts already in place, such as on the Bullring, and the planning committee was told money raised from sponsorship is intended to go towards the upkeep of each roundabout, but that did not appease everyone.

Councillor Paul Denham said: “If we are serious about becoming a tourist destination and historic cathedral city we should be very careful about moving in the direction of looking like the back streets of an industrial town or the seedier parts of the USA.

“I don’t think the majority of people in Worcester welcome them, I don’t think they make the city more attractive, and I don’t think they improve the roundabouts.”

A spokesman for agency Immediate Solutions, which co-ordinates the roundabout advertising scheme on behalf of the city council, said the money raised from sponsorship will go towards maintaining the area but senior planner Alan Coleman was unable to say for definite that was the case.

The committee was told that the county’s highways authority had not objected to the signs despite some suggesting they might cause accidents because drivers might get distracted.

Coun Andy Roberts said that idea was “ridiculous” given the fact people can drive through the city centre, with all its signage, and not crash.

It was agreed the content of the advertising should be monitored while attention should also be paid to make sure one company does not take all of the signs in any one area.

Votes were taken on individual applications with varying support.

Planning committee chairman Coun Robert Rowden had to use his casting vote to approve seven of the proposals.