Vision removes disputed Westmere hoarding

Vision has ended the controversy over its Westmere sign by taking it away.
The sign was perched on a trailer at the intersection of SH3 and Blueskin Rd during daylight hours.
It promoted Vision candidates in the Wanganui District Council by-election ? Philippa Baker-Hogan (urban ward) and Alan Taylor (rural community board).
In a Chronicle article yesterday district councillor Ray Stevens complained about the Vision sign because only a few months earlier he was instructed to remove a highway sign which advertised fuel prices at his nearby service station.
Transit NZ regional manager Errol Christiansen told the Chronicle on Monday evening that signs generally were not allowed on the highway corridor within the 100kph area.
The rule applied to signs of any type, regardless of whether they were for election purposes, even if they were on a trailer.
Transit NZ, which controls the state highway network, found the site was signless yesterday.
So the problem disappeared, courtesy of Vision, and Transit NZ had no need to take the matter further.
Mr Christiansen said Transit's rule was aimed at ensuring highway signs were restricted to highway information.
Mr Taylor dismissed the issue as a storm in a teacup initiated by Cr Stevens "having yet another paddy."
He said he had explained to Mr Christiansen that the trailer was parked on private land, not within the surveyed highway corridor.
"His reaction was fine," Mr Taylor said.
Vision was in bother last week when it indicated it would not comply with a council request to remove a Baker-Hogan sign from an off-limits site in Puriri St. It backed down in the end. The council had erred in authorising the sign in the first place.
By-election candidate Allan Anderson said he was not too concerned about where "a certain group" might stick its signs.
However, there was blatant flouting of the rules imposed on all candidates.
"These are people who aspire to make the rules to which the rest of us must conform," Mr Anderson said. "Those who would rule must be seen to be above reproach. Even at local body level we cannot tolerate one standard for our masters and a different one for the peasants."
Mayor Michael Laws said he understood numerous candidates were the subject of complaints for not complying with council regulations.