Midlothian developers are under fire for leaving construction signs on street lights long after projects are done, prompting calls for action from local officials.
At a recent council meeting, one councillor spoke up. He suggested that builders should pay to remove these signs. Councillor Stephen Curran pointed out that the county is covered in them.
He said, “Everywhere we go now we see on our street lights signs for developments.” It’s true! Midlothian is starting to look messy with all these signs.
Curran asked, “Is there anything we can do to tidy these up? They sit there forever and a day.” The head of planning, Peter Arnsdorf, agreed. He mentioned that signs should come down once the construction is finished.
He added that these signs help direct traffic to the sites. But they shouldn’t be left up indefinitely. Curran insisted that if the council has to remove them, the developers should pay for it.
He said, “If the council is removing them from the lampposts, we should be charging the developers for that as well.”
This discussion came up while the committee was reviewing a new business site at Sheriffhall. The developers wanted to change conditions to build a drive-thru coffee shop sooner than planned.
Originally, they could only build it after all business units were completed. Now, they can start after two-thirds of the units are done. The committee approved these changes.
