Maclean sign remains in storage

The sign designed in the 80s by Keith Howland. The Maclean Scottish Town Association wants the sign erected.

IT was approved and meant to be erected in the late 80s but for some reason, artist Keith Howland’s Maclean promotional sign for north-bound traffic never was built.

Twenty or so years later, the Maclean Scottish Town Association set about lodging a development application (DA) with Clarence Valley Council to see the artwork finally brought to public life and give highway tourists the opportunity to pull into the town. The application was refused late last year by planning staff .

Howland had designed a number of signs for Iluka, Yamba, Brooms Head and Maclean in the mid to late 80s, co-funded by the then Maclean Shire Council and interested chambers of commerce.

The difficulty of finding a site for last year’s application – that wasn’t on highway road reserve or a cane farm – was overcome with permission from a private land owner on the northern side of Shark Creek to erect the sign of the Scotsman pointing to the town of Maclean.

Council referred it to the RTA, which recommended permission be refused on the grounds that it was within 200 metres of a decision-making point (where two lanes converge) and that a sign already existed just south of Ferry Park.

On these grounds, the Scottish Town Association was urged by council to withdraw the DA. Half the application fees would be refunded and another DA would have to be lodged, with changes, if the sign was ever to be erected.

“About $350 of public money and public expectation has been lost in this process,” Scottish Town spokesperson Warren Rackham said.

The Scottish Town committee is now negotiating with the Maclean Chamber of Commerce to consider options for the sign.