Advertising signs which are clogging up Dartmouth's town centre pavements and making the town look 'scruffy' have come under attack from worried councillors.

The town councillors want to see the A-board signs hauled away, but they are worried that flower troughs and Dartmouth in Bloom's floral displays will have to go with them.

Now they are looking at appealing to local county councillor Jonathan Hawkins to help in finding a way to get rid of the signs but keep the flowers.

But they were warned that, following complaints about signs some years ago, the county council sent in a snatch squad to grab every sign or other obstruction on the town's footpaths.

And town councillor David Gent said: 'We did get some of the things returned but it was a mess. I would not like to go down that road again.'

Worries about the increasing number of advertising signs being put out on the town centre pavements were raised by Felicity Smith, as she told members of the council general purposes committee: 'I have been looking around the town and over the last two or three years it has been getting more and more scruffy with advertising boards.'

She said she had been taking photographs of the signs which cause problems for the elderly and blind.

'They are now really cutting back on the width of the pavements,' she added.

She said cafes had boards out that were not just advertising the business but also the kind of coffee they sell. She said one takeaway business now had tables and chairs set up on the pavement outside the shop.

'They are not even taking the signs in when they are not open and it looks terrible,' she added.

Mr Gent pointed out: 'By law you are not allowed to obstruct the pavement, full stop.

'You can't ask them to take things away because you don't like them and to leave things that you do.' Town councillor Tessa de Galeani also pointed out that the county council had moved in some years ago and taken all of the pavement signs away.

'They are not technically supposed to be there at all.

They have mushroomed all over again,' she added.

However, deputy mayor Dave Cawley urged councillors to investigate whether it would be possible to 'keep the plants and get rid of the A-boards' as a first step towards sorting out the problem.