Bornholm tightens roadside sign rules, squeezing cultural venues

Stricter roadside advertising rules introduced this year by Bornholms Regionskommune are cutting visibility for festivals and cultural sites across the island, DR reports.

Bornholm’s medieval centre has resorted to placing a handful of posters on private land near town-limit signs after the new regulations removed most of its usual 80 island-wide placements. The centre’s director, Jane Lindedam, says they are now limited to roughly a dozen posters, placed only where private owners grant permission within 30 metres of a town-limit sign.

Musikhuzet in Rønne has abandoned roadside signage entirely, judging the rules too restrictive to justify the effort for summer events. Daniel Mühlendorph, co-organiser of the Wonderfestiwall music festival, argues that roadside posters are a low-cost, high-impact marketing tool essential for cultural events. He urges the municipality to allow such signage to support the island’s cultural life.

The new signage code, adopted just before the municipal council change at the turn of the year, tightens permissions, particularly outside urban areas, citing traffic safety. Signs for an event in Svaneke, for example, may now generally be placed only within Svaneke itself, subject to additional conditions.

Louise Ramstrup, director of Bornholms Rovfugleshow, was ordered to remove a sign from private property on Zahrtmannsvej in central Rønne. She questions the fairness of the rules, noting that businesses such as shops and petrol stations on the same road are permitted to advertise while her attraction, located nine kilometres outside the town, is not.

Venstre group leader Sebastian Bærnthsen says he has not observed traffic safety or sign clutter issues and plans to raise the matter politically after the summer, aiming to adjust the rules to better accommodate cultural promotions.

Bornholm Police have declined to comment on the tightened regulations.