A TOWN mayor is appealing to vandals who obscure English language signs to stop doing so – for the good of the local economy. A number of signs introducing visitors to Denbigh have had the English spelling spray-painted out leaving in some cases just the Welsh version – Dinbych. With one now bent out of shape and “give way” notices also obscured, the town’s mayor, Cllr Colin Hughes, is calling on whoever is responsible to stop. “I have a feeling it is just a local person and I’m not sure I understand the person’s motivation,” he said. “The fact is to me the economy of the town is equally important. I have sympathy when there is just maybe an English language sign but it is different when it is a bilingual sign and we have tourists coming in from England. “I would ask the papers to appeal to them on behalf of us that they don’t damage our local economy because I feel that it may.” The issue was raised at a town council meeting on Monday by Cllr Colin L Hughes, who, like his namesake, claimed he was concerned by the potential knock-on effect it could have on holidaymakers visiting the area. He revealed a number of signs on approach roads into the town had been hit, as well as “give way” markings. “As you go down Love Lane and up to the town centre there are signs with the English version scrubbed out,” he said. “What message does it give to the potential tourists to the Vale of Clwyd, and what is the cost of having to replace these signs?” A vandalised sign on the A543 Lôn Llewelyn road was flagged up by elected representatives as it had also been bent beyond repair by vandals. Cllr Raymond Bartley revealed initial attempts to clean it by council workers had failed. “With health and safety they are only allowed certain substances and it didn’t work,” he explained. “When we went up again the sign had been bent. “We shouldn’t give in to this vandalism but we need something there. We need to get a quotation for new signs, either the brown ones or the black and white ones.” matt.sims | 
