Apply for brown tourist signs on roads that Highways England manage
How to apply for brown tourist signs for tourist attraction or facility located directly off a road managed by Highways England.
Use this process if your attraction or facility is accessed from a motorway or A road managed by Highways England. It may be accessed directly or via a private driveway or slip road.
If your attraction is accessed from an A road not managed by Highways England or by a minor road, you should contact the relevant highway authority instead. In London the highway authority is Transport for London. Outside London the highway authority will be the local authority responsible for the venue location.
Highways England is responsible for motorways and major roads in England. For other parts of the UK you will need to contact other authorities as follows:
- for Scotland contact Transport Scotland
- for Wales contact the Welsh Assembly
Costs for design and installation
As the applicant, you will need to cover the cost of any agreed tourist signs. A single sign may cost £8,000 to £20,000 to design and install if sited on a single or dual carriageway, depending on the size of the sign. A single motorway sign may cost £17,000 to £40,000. Many design options are available; Highways England has provided these costs ranges give you an indication of your possible outlay.
Highways England manages high speed routes with a major impact on local and national economies. As such precautions must be taken to ensure that signage is appropriate and installed safely. Highways England may also need to take into account the cost of future maintenance. This means the design and delivery process for placing signage on strategic roads is generally more expensive than for local roads.
Eligible venues
Brown signs help road users find attractions and facilities.
An attraction is a place people visit for pleasure and interest, for example:
- theme park
- historic building
- museum
- zoo
A facility is a tourist amenity, for example:
- hotel
- guest house
- camping ground
- picnic site
Only attractions can be signed from a motorway. Both attractions and facilities can be signed from A-roads. Brown signs may only be provided where visitors would have difficulty finding the location.
It’s not possible for every tourist destination to be signed due to the number and variety of tourist destinations. Occasionally Highways England cannot agree to provide tourist signs, even where the destination is eligible. This could be due to:
- excess signing demand
- high environmental intrusion
- significant impact on road safety
Ineligible venues
Tourist signs cannot be used for:
- retail outlets
- shops or shopping centres
- garden centres (including those with food outlets, play areas and additional retail outlets)
- exhibition centres or conferencing facilities
Application process
You should use this process for attractions and facilities accessed directly from roads managed by Highways England. Check the roads managed by Highways England before you apply.
Signage design and installation does take time. Unforeseen factors, such as the presence of underground cables or pipes that need diverting, can cause delays. Please allow at least 9 months from start to finish.
- Complete the and send it to Highways England at touristinformationsigns@highwaysengland.co.uk.
- Highways England will consider your eligibility against the criteria and liaise with any other relevant authorities as needed.
- Highways England will contact you to explain whether you are eligible and to outline any appropriate signage and likely costs.
- You must pay a deposit in order to proceed. Highways England will provide payment details when they contact you.
- Once Highways England receives your deposit they will arrange for detailed design work to be carried out.
- Highways England will then give you a firmer estimate for completion of the work and ask if you would like to proceed.
- If you do not wish to proceed, Highways England will return your deposit minus any costs incurred so far.
- If you do proceed, the Highways England will set up a legal contract known as a Section 278. Once the contract has been signed by all parties, you will be invoiced for any remaining payments
- If the final cost is lower than the cost agreed, you will be reimbursed the difference.
Once installed, tourist signs become the property of the relevant highway authority to maintain as required.
Further information
Updates to this page
Published 1 January 2012Last updated 5 June 2018 + show all updates
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Added document 'Application form for tourist destination signing on trunk roads'
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Replacement of document 'Traffic signs to tourist attractions and facilities in England' with up-to-date document. Removal of documents TA 93/04 and TA 94/04 as they are no longer used.
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First published.