Road and tourism signing

Road signs

The Highway Code gives examples of the most common signs in normal use. Signs fall into certain groups:

• regulatory - signs with red circles
• warning - mostly triangular
• directional - mostly rectangular
• information -mostly rectangular
• road works

Tourism signing

The primary purpose of tourism signing is to safely guide those wishing to visit a tourist destination along the most appropriate route for the latter stages of their journey, or to indicate facilities that a tourist would not reasonably expect to find in that location. A tourist destination is broadly defined as a permanently established attraction or facility which attracts or is used by visitors to an area, and is open to the public without prior booking during its normal opening hours.

Tourists would normally expect to find a signed destination open, and as such a minimum period has been applied to normal opening hours of at least 6 hours a day, 180 days a year.

Signs will not be approved at locations where it is considered their provision would be primarily for promotional or advertisement purposes. Tourism signing provides an important opportunity for both tourism businesses and local economies and will be implemented positively and constructively with consideration to road safety and environmental impact.

If you would like to apply for a tourism sign, please read the Direction Signing Strategy for Plymouth, print out a copy of the form on page 83 and send it to the address provided. A non-refundable charge is required to cover the cost of the initial processing of the application.