GAELIC road signs are on their way to Helensburgh – and will help to direct visitors to the town to where they can park their cars.

Permission was granted for the signs to be designed and built at last week’s meeting of Argyll and Bute Council’s Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee.

The funds have come from the surplus for the CHORD project, whose programme manager John Gordon gave a progress report at the meeting.

And council leader Aileen Morton advised that an agreement had been reached earlier this year by the authority for all road signage to be printed in English and Gaelic.

Mr Gordon said: “To give visitors to the town more advanced notice, we have identified areas where we would like to install these signs.

“We are looking at the approaches on the north and east sides of the town. Most of those coming from the west are more local in that they live on the outskirts of the town, and so will be more familiar with parking facilities.

“The first sign will give people a list of car parking facilities and details of whether they are free or will cost money.

“Then, once you come to a mid-road, the signs will be more specific and direct you to a specific car park.

“There is £2,000 allocated within the budget for signage, but our colleagues in the roads department have highlighted there may be some more revenue from the parking budget.”

Councillor Richard Trail expressed the opinion that drivers entering the town from the north entrance will have forgotten about the car park signage by the time they are further down the hill.

But Mr Gordon said: “We are not trying to identify every single car park – we are trying to give people an indication of where they are, like on the motorway approaches.”

Mr Gordon also stated that a proposal by Councillor Graham Hardie, for signs directing to north or south car parks, could be looked into, but added: “People are interested in whether parking is free and will gravitate towards that.”

Councillor Morton said that if the recommendation to approve the signage measures was agreed, then it should move fast.

She said: “The council agreed on a plan back in the spring that the position is to request all signage to be bilingual.

“If it goes from needing £2,000 to £100,000 then I agree that the department should come back to us, but permission should be given just to put the signage up.”

The recommendation was approved by the committee.