BRIGG SIGN NEAR M’LADY’S FORMER HOME IN NEED OF REPAIR

The Central Square street sign in Brigg – at the junction with East Parade and Woodbine Avenue – needs repairing.

We saw it was on the ground recently. Since then, someone has stuck the supporting posts back and the sign is visible again – but on a slope.

It really needs a visit from North Lincolnshire Council to concrete the posts back into place on a permanent basis.

The sign is important because there is more confusion about locating addresses in this part of town than anywhere else.

It’s a decades-old issue caused by the way Brigg Urban District Council developed housing in this area..

Most streets in Brigg, and elsewhere, have houses on either side – generally numbered odd and even but all belonging to the same road.

However, in this part of Brigg you find Central Square addresses facing Woodbine Avenue (on two sides), East Parade (on almost two sides) and West Square (for a short stretch).

So 24 Woodbine Avenue is not very far from 24 Central Square – but on opposite sides of the same stretch of highway.

This has long confused delivery drivers, tradesmen and visitors trying to find particular homes.

In the case of police, fire and ambulance personnel  attending emergencies, it is important they can find addresses without delay.

Central Square’s most famous resident, actress Dame Joan Plowright (Lady Olivier) lived there in the early 1930s.

Her family home was very close to the street sign currently requiring attention.

If they ever get round to adding Joan Plowright’s former home to a tourists’ Places to See in Brigg leaflet or map, the authorities had better given clear instructions on finding the location - for the reasons we outlined earlier.