POSTERS stuck to the likes of lampposts may seem innocent enough, but they are causing concern in one coastal town.

Mark Lord

POSTERS stuck to the likes of lampposts may seem innocent enough, but they are causing concern in one coastal town.

Officials in Southwold are unhappy at the levels of “fly-posting”, saying it looks unsightly and can also damage property if stuck with strong tape.

Now the town council is encouraging people to stop the practice, saying it is unacceptable.

A meeting of the authority heard that removing the posters was proving expensive for the council and that some pictures had recently been attached to the historic Town Pump in the Market Place - and the parcel tape had stripped off large sections of paint.

Town mayor Teresa Baggott said: “We are just making a stand against this sort of thing, we have lots of posters being put up and people do not realise the problem they are causing and it just does not look nice around the town to have all of these posters up everywhere.

“The posters that have been put up on the Town Pump unfortunately caused quite a bit of damage when removed. They had been put up with parcel tape and when the town clerk removed them the paint came off the pump. We now have to have the pump painted and the cost is expected to be about £700.”

She added: “The town council would like to draw this to the attention of the public as this is an expense we had not expected this year.

“We are not against people putting up celebration or advertising posters but would like to respectfully ask that they are not put on any private property and are removed as soon as the event has taken place.

“We have had cause to highlight the problem of fly posting in the past when posters fail to be removed. The town council does not want to be seen as party poopers in any way, but would like to stress that posters put on any private property in the town will be removed.”

She said they had no problem with people asking local shops or private home owners to put the posters up to celebrate a birthday etc as this was then their responsibility to remove it.

“Southwold is a very special place to live, we should cherish what we have here and keep the town special for others to enjoy also,” the mayor added.

At the meeting the deputy town mayor said the posters were no different from graffiti and that it was bordering on being a criminal offence.

He told members he had thought about a poster saying 'no posters', but felt that would defeat the object.