County signs stolen as mementos, leader says

The leader of Rutland County Council believes a decision to abolish the authority has led to a spate of signs being stolen as mementos of England's smallest county.

Police are investigating after 10 signs on the border of Rutland were "removed without permission".

Christine Wise, the Liberal Democrat leader of the county council, said the signs started to go missing in July shortly after the government announced a major redrawing of the local political map, which will see the county council merge with Leicestershire authorities.

"There's a suspicion people were taking them for sentimental or nostalgic reasons," Wise said.

"It started happening not long after the local government reorganisation (LGR) announcement, so there is the suspicion it is connected to that."

Wise confirmed that after the 10 signs went missing in a short period of time, 17 remaining signs were taken down for safekeeping.

"I was quite shocked when I first heard about it," Wise said.

"It became clear there was quite a campaign to remove them.

"We can't be totally sure that it's linked to LGR and people think the historic county will be disappearing.

"It won't. We'll need those signs, which is why we took the others down.

"At the speed they were disappearing, there was a danger we would lose them all - and some of them are very old and historic."

Wise said it was unclear who had stolen the signs but she said the council was "keeping an eye" on online sites to see if any were put up for sale.

Rutland and Stamford Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said the council had been wrong to remove the remaining signs.

"It's enormously disappointing. This is vandalism and you do not concede to criminality in our communities," Kearns said.

"Rutland has essentially been wiped off the roads overnight.

"There is no excuse for what is being done, but there is also no need to leave Rutland without any signs."

Kearns said the removal of the signs was an allegory for the threat to the county's status posed by the LGR decision.

She urged the authority to replace the signs with cheaper, more modern ones that were less appealing to thieves.

Wise said the council was considering installing interim signs but there were no timescales for that process.

She added: "I think to claim our identities related to a few road signs is to reduce the identity of Rutland.

"We are much more than a few road signs and it would take more than a few missing road signs to take Rutland out of people."

Leicestershire Police said inquiries were continuing and no arrests had yet been made.

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