A new Swindon Borough Council policy on Speed Indicator Devices, the roadside signs that flash your speed at you in the hope you feel bad about it, could cost one parish council around £9,000 in its first year. The rule states that every SID must be moved to a new site every two to three weeks, and cannot go back to the same location for six months.

Councillor Kearsey worked out that fitting enough new ground sockets around the parish to allow this much shuffling would come to roughly £9,000 initially, with a further £5,760 a year after that just to pay someone to keep moving the thing. That figure does not include the cost of new permits from the borough council for each fresh pitch. The borough council has since unofficially indicated the policy will only apply to new SIDs, though the parish would still need a large number of sockets installed regardless. Councillor S. Kingsbury is expected to raise the issue at the next meeting, along with a separate objection to the current policy on parish gateway signs.

It is understood the sign itself has no strong feelings on the matter, mainly because it is a sign.

Officials say the constant relocation prevents drivers from memorising where the camera is and slowing down just for that one stretch of road, which would rather defeat the point. Critics note that spending £9,000 to stop a speed sign getting too familiar is an unusual way to save money on speeding, given that the parish could simply have painted a large number on the tarmac for considerably less.

"I'm not one to gossip," said Brenda Pask, 72, of Old Town, who has lived there since before it was old, "but I hear that sign's moved house more times this year than our Linda's son, and he's in the army. In my day a thirty sign went up once, outside the school, and it stayed there till it rusted. Nobody asked it how it was settling in." She added that she herself had not moved in forty years and saw no reason to start now, on account of the curtains fitting.

Gary Tench, Area Manager at Tench Paper Solutions in Westlea, said the policy reminded him of a restructure. "You move the asset, you keep people guessing, it's basic engagement theory," he said. "We did it with the stationery cupboard in 2019, moved it floor to floor every fortnight so nobody got complacent about the staples. Productivity went up four percent. Morale went down, but you can't measure everything." He said he had written a song about it called Relocate Your Heart, which Julie from accounts had asked him not to perform at the Christmas do again.

A council spokesperson said the scheme was about road safety, not expense, and that costs would be reviewed. The SID, for its part, had already moved on to a new location and was unavailable for comment.