Blaen spot! (From Free Press Series)

Blaen spot!

IT'S up there with the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal and Stonehenge, but if you were travelling on the M4 would you be able to find Blaenavon?

The UNESCO World Heritage town could be missing out on visitors because the country's busiest route has no brown tourism signs showing people the way to Blaenavon.

The M4 is Wales' busiest road and the thoroughfare for many tourists, who could be passing Blaenavon by without realising.

Many of the town's business people feel that this is an oversight that should be corrected as the town gets ready to open a World Heritage Centre next year - and the Free Press does too, which is why we're launching our name that town! campaign.

Peter Hunt from the Railway Shop on Broad Street, Blaenavon, said: "I'm sure people are missing out and certainly signs on the M4 would help to bring people into the town. As far as the business in the town is concerned things looked up a bit with the booktown, but have gone off the boil a bit since and signposting on the motorway and the Heads of the Valleys may well help things."

Road signs are the remit of the Welsh Assembly, but local authorities can request World Heritage signs.

An Assembly spokesperson said: '"The signs are used to improve traffic management, and whilst they may be helpful in supplementing tourism marketing initiatives, they are not designed as a promotional tool. They are used to direct visitors who are already en route to a 'tourist' destination, through the most appropriate route at the latter stage of their journey."

However, traders in Blaenavon are urging the council to ask for improved signage.

Joanna Chambers, from Broadleaf books, said: "We have been calling for better signage for years not only on the motorway but also from Big Pit and on the approach to the town. The town needs a lot of promotion but it's no good promoting it if no one can find it. The lack of signs is very detrimental to businesses here, because people who try and find it get lost, give up and go home and we miss out."

Torfaen's executive member for the operational services John Cunningham said: "The Blaenavon World Heritage site is a fantastic attraction which draws visitors from all over the UK. The M4 is a busy motorway used by thousands of people every day and is only 16 miles from Blaenavon. We support anything which will make it easier for people to be directed to the site. Next year, the World Heritage visitor centre will be finished, so it would help to have these signs in place when it opens."