TIM Farron MP is hoping to see 'welcome to Westmorland' road signs after a relaxation of planning laws.

The government have today announced that planning rules have been changed to allow for councils to put up their traditional boundary signs.

Mr Farron has urged the new rules to be put to use and for signs celebrating Westmorland to be installed.

In addition, the government is shortly to propose changes to highways regulations to allow traditional county names to appear on boundary road signs.

The current rules prevent unitary councils like Blackpool from having a road sign saying ‘Lancashire’, or Poole saying ‘Dorset’ – since they are not considered to be part of an ‘administrative county’.

A spokesman for Mr Farron said no council is being forced to make any change or put up unnecessary street clutter, but the intention is to free councils from Whitehall red tape, support local tourism and to cherish local ties and traditions.

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Mr Farron said: “Westmorland’s heritage and living identity should be celebrated and I hope that the council use these new powers and bring back signs to celebrate our historic county.

“I hope that this will help boost tourism and will be supported by local residents.”

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council said: “In 2012, the council completed a programme of installing new Welcome to Cumbria signs on roads entering the county.

" This involved installing new signs with the county council’s logo welcoming people to the county of Cumbria and working with the Highways Agency to install signs on the strategic road network.

" The massive savings challenge currently facing the council means it would not be an effective use of our resources to consider replacing these signs so soon after they were installed.

"However, the county council does invest in restoring and retaining the heritage of Cumbria, recognising the former counties of both Cumberland and Westmorland.

"An example of this is the £20,000 investment by our Eden Local Committee last year to restore and maintain the traditional fingerpost signs on the highways network. These black and white fingerpost  signs have different designs for the two former counties and are being maintained to their original specifications.”