Replacement signs designed to mark Manx capital's city status

A total of 55 signs in the shopping district of the Isle of Man's capital are set to be replaced to mark its city status, the local authority has said.

Douglas was given the civic honour as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.

Two sets of signs - one for pedestrian areas and the other for streets and roads - will be installed by Douglas Council staff at a cost of £5,000.

Council leader Claire Wells said they celebrated the status change.

Ms Wells said funding for the project to update city centre signs had been budgeted for in October 2022 and the authority had made efforts to keep costs down by creating new designs in-house.

Current staff would also take down and put up the new signage, rather than employ contractors, she confirmed.

"We haven't spent huge amounts of money on rebranding, because that's not the way we work," Ms Wells told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"As a city, we need to be really careful about how we spend our money," she said.

The rolling programme will focus on the replacement of signs in the shopping area of Douglas, with others away from the centre updated when needed in future.

It was confirmed at the council's December meeting that, as the majority of the existing signs were affixed to private buildings, the authority would seek permission for the works from their owners or agents.

Councillors also agreed that as planners could refuse the replacement of some cast-iron signage for conservation reasons, a sign with the new design would be placed either above or alongside the existing one, depending on the space available.

Any original cast-iron signs taken down would be offered to Manx National Heritage, or be retained by the authority, members agreed.

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