KEY groups in Alton have expressed their anger at the increasing growth of street "clutter", following a campaign launched last week by a cultural protection organisation.

Local politicians, societies and Altonians all agree that the roads are being over-run by purposeless signs and other obtrusive items of street furniture that ruin the look of the town.

The "Save our Streets" campaign, conducted by English Heritage in partnership with the Women's Institute, has brought into focus the fact that 20 agencies are allowed to install fixtures, such as surveillance cameras, speed bumps and road signs, without any planning permission, but at a cost to taxpayers.

Greg Bur, the deputy town clerk, is chief among those who want to see the council's highways department more accountable for the street furniture it chooses to put in Alton.

"We've had a long campaign against street clutter," he said.

The sight of "temporary" signs, which Hampshire County Council may put up to alert motorists to a new road layout of fixture, is a particular irritant.

Mr Bur refers to one such sign, positioned near Minnesota's nightclub in Lower Street, warning of the "new" roundabout sited 80 metres on at the junction of Drayman's Way and Orchard Lane.

He said that the roundabout was completed "at least 10 years ago", yet a notice informing the public of its obvious existence has yet to be removed.

HCC is also affected by a lack of "innovative thinking" in the way it approaches other forms of public information display.

"We have been trying to improve pedestrian links from the railway station to the town centre because it's not that clear," he said. "Several months ago, we put forward the suggestion that, rather than have more signs on poles, we should paint footsteps from the station."

But this low cost and unobtrusive approach does not conform to HCC regulations.

"I'm afraid that, at present, footprints are not a prescribed marking," said a member of the county's traffic management group in an email to Mr Bur, in March.

"All signing upon the public highway must conform to 'The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002' unless individually authorised by the Department for Transport."

The email said that because such footprints were generally associated with "walk to school" initiatives "there are concerns that use of the marking would be seen as more than just approving a route but also guaranteeing a degree of safety that may not be achievable".

If such a route was to be implemented, "extensive highway works" would first have to be done, and even then the Department for Transport may not agree to the plan.

This, Mr Bur said, was a "good example of the sort of bureaucratic nonsense" that restricts communities having a say over the changes made to their own towns.

Town councillor Bob Booker has also been vocal on the issue of street clutter.

In May he contacted highways engineers at HCC and discussed the use of setting up an Alton working party to deal with the problem. The response, he said, was positive - but it is a slow process.

Again, temporary signs are a problem.

He pointed out that next to The Alton House Hotel there is a contractual notice for a cycleway that had been there, approximately, since "the early-to-mid 90s".

Some signs, he believed, should be repositioned or taken away altogether, while other pieces of street furniture should be integrated.

"You actually have the technology now to put traffic lights into lamp posts."

He added: "Certainly there are a number of signs that are cluttering up the town. In some cases, Alton would be a safer place if you took them away."

Alton Society watchdog member Tony Rice said that The Herald's "informal audit" confirmed that Alton, "like other towns, is affected by the growth in intrusive signage and other visual clutter".

The Alton Society, Mr Rice said in a statement to The Herald, is "strongly supportive" of any initiative to rid towns of street clutter and hopes to tackle the issue with the "Vision for Alton" exercis, in which the group is actively participating.

"A full audit of the Alton situation would be extremely timely," he argued. His organisation would "welcome a reduction or rationalisation of signage wherever this is appropriate". But he warned that "a blanket objection to new developments, particularly road signs, should not be mounted since modern conditions, including driver behaviour, unfortunately require some additional signage".

"Street furniture should reflect the nature, needs and opinion of the local community. What is appropriate for central London, on the one hand, or rural Dorset, on the other, may not be appropriate for Alton."

While agreeing that Alton had street furniture black spots, Mr Rice highlighted the scourge of other "intrusions on our visual environment", such as litter, vandalism and graffiti, believing these to be "of greater immediate concern".

"These issues should not be relegated to a secondary position as a result of our concentration on street furniture," he said.