I WISH to reply to Bridget Nuttgens (Letters, June 27) on the matter of the new signs for the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

First it is important to understand why they have been put up.

In 1997 the joint advisory committee realised signs on the boundaries of the AONB would greatly help make people aware of the designation. The aim was to inform people, not specifically to attract more visitors. We wanted discreet signs in a local style that were informative but not intrusive.

The process started in October 2000 and it has taken until March 2005 to get the signs into place. Their design is governed by the traffic signs regulations and general directions, which specify exactly what is acceptable in a sign of this type.

While a name sign on the edge of a town or village can be put up automatically, signs on the edge of a geographic area need specific approval from the Department for Transport (DfT) in London.

We went through many different designs, trying to find one that was acceptable to DfT but did not compromise our original vision. Typeface, logo, number of words and colour were all debated at length. After consultations with parish councils we reduced the overall size of the signs.

The letter size was then adjusted to re-balance the design. Having finally got DfT approval for the design and all 14 sites, we would have liked to use local Hovingham stone for the plinths but this would have eroded too easily when used this way, so we used reclaimed sandstone.

I hope this explains to Bridget and other readers why the signs look the way they do. We have had to make some compromises to actually get them up, but feel the end result is close to our original vision.

P B Jackson,

Howardian Hills AONB Officer,

Hovingham.

Updated: 09:49 Friday, July 29, 2005