Brexit town seethes at metric signs telling them where to go

WHEN the nation went to the polls last June, the people of Burnley were among the most determined in the land to leave the European Union.

So residents have been left baffled after the council erected new European- style signposts in a nature park that use kilometres instead of miles.

The town hall spent £4,300 of taxpayers’ cash on 45 metric signs at Brun Valley Forest Park, on the outskirts of the Lancashire town.

Resident John Pickup, 68, branded the move ‘disgraceful’, adding: ‘We are supposed to be coming out of Europe so why the hell have they put signs up in kilometres?’

The town’s Labour MP Julie Cooper, who backed the Remain campaign, admitted that initially she was perplexed by the signs.

She suggested that kilometres were chosen because fitness apps, which are used by runners and walkers, tend to measure distances in kilometres.

Children are also more often taught metric measurements. But Mr Pickup, a car dealer, who lives with his wife Kath, 74, in nearby Worsthorne, said most park visitors were older people.

‘We fought two world wars’

‘Some people say kids are taught in metres – but kids don’t go down there. It’s just us golden oldies,’ he added.

‘We’ve fought and won two world wars and finally won our referendum to come out of the European Union. But now we are producing pathway signs in kilometres.’

Around 66 per cent of residents in Burnley opted to leave the EU in last year’s referendum.

Jayne Adye, of campaign group Get Britain Out, said the move was ‘ridiculous’ and smacked of the Labour-run council taking revenge on the majority of locals who voted Leave.

The signs also provoked much debate on social media, with one user posting: ‘This is a mixture of arrogance and stupidity we’ve come to expect from the lamebrains that run Labour councils.’

Another added: ‘Brexit or no Brexit, we’ve always used miles, it makes sense to be consistent.’

A third wrote: ‘I don’t think this is an attack on British culture, just proof that the council used “fitness apps” to measure the routes and no one at the council had the IQ to use a calculator to convert the distances.’

A spokesman for Burnley council said: ‘Burnley has some beautiful places to visit, whatever way you want to measure it.’