NEW signs costing £10,000 each have been approved by planners.

South Downs National Park wants to install the signs at 31 locations.

It follows a pilot scheme in which 19 of the handcrafted wood and iron signs were installed at key entry points to the park, including Ditchling Road, Brighton.

The planning committee of the South Downs National Park Authority has now voted unanimously to approve 31 more gateway signs at locations across the borders of the park in Sussex and Hampshire.

The signs will be installed next year.

Two more will be placed on the borders of Brighton and Hove and the national park, in Devil’s Dyke Road, and the B2123, in Woodingdean.

The 19 signs created as part of the pilot project cost £36,100 to design, and a further £157,449 to manufacture and install, meaning each sign cost £10,186.

Although production could be slightly cheaper for the next 31 signs the total project could cost as much as £315,782.

The sites have been chosen based on their “sense of arrival”, for instance, where people emerge from urban areas into the breathtaking views of the South Downs, however they are not all on the precise boundary line.

The new signs are made from iron or a mixture of wood and iron, designed to reflect the history of iron work in the South Downs during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The white lettering is intended to reflect the chalk landscape of the downs and the chestnut wood used comes from Hampshire woodlands.

Trevor Beattie, chief executive of the South Downs National Park Authority, said: “These signs will welcome people to a wonderful nationally designated landscape, reminding them that it should be enjoyed with care and respect.

“We believe the markers not only encourage greater enjoyment of the national park, but also greater stewardship of the landscape.”

In addition to the two Brighton locations, signs will be placed on the A283 in Haslemere; A283 in Chanctonbury Ring; A284 in Arundel; A285, in Halnaker; B2178, in East Ashling; Highdown Hill, in Goring; A24, in Washington; A280, in Angmering; Woodmancote; Tottington Manor Farm; East Lavant;

Alfriston Road, in Seaford; A27, at Drusillas; B2123, in Falmer; Jevington Road, in Wannock; B2192, at Glynde and Spatham Lane, in Westmeston.