PROPOSALS for two new tourist information signs to promote Burnham-on-Sea as a tourist destination have been shelved as councillors say they are “too expensive”.

Burnham and Highbridge Town Council’s town clerk, Tatiana Cant, spoke to councillors at the monthly town council meeting on September 4 and set out plans and costings for two new tourism signs on the north and south sides of the M5, near junction 22.

At the meeting, councillors said they were ‘concerned’ popular tourist areas such as Weston-super-Mare, Cheddar, Wookey Hole and Brean Leisure Park are signposted with a brown sign - but Burnhamon-Sea is not mentioned.

Ms Cant said the new signs would cost £34,000 to install, which councillors quickly dismissed as being too costly.

“Weston-super-Mare and other tourist attractions are all mentioned on the M5 signs at junction 22 but Burnham-OnSea is not promoted at all,” Ms Cant said.

“We’ve therefore looked into getting new signs to promote Burnham through the Highways Agency, which oversees signs along motorways.”

The town clerk said councillors were shocked when they heard the signs would cost £17,000 each and asked her to shelve the plans until more money can be found.

“The Highways Agency’s guidance is quite clear that we as applicants would have to foot the bill for the new signs so councillors decided not to pursue this further at this time,”she added.

The town clerk said despite the high cost, the council is eager to get more visitors into the town and said they would not rule out getting signs installed in the future.

She said: “We remain keen to see better sign-posting, along with Burnham Chamber of Trade, to try and attract more visitors into our town.

“Burnham is a tourist destination and as a council we want to get more visitors which will boost trade and put the town on the map. We will continue looking into projects to achieve this."