Oakham Town Council has approved a spend of £229 for a double-sided sign which will be placed on Centenary Field.

The idea is to advertise events being held on the field, but also to promote Oakham as a town, as well as point out that the field honours Rutland Remembers, a group which remembers the fallen of the First World War, and make people aware of what the town council does.

The cost includes the design work and production of the double-sided sign.

Speaking to fellow members of the full council at a meeting last week, Cllr Philip Wildbore said: "The sign gets used for advertising events like when the Christmas lights will be turned on, but there are an awful lot of times when the wind just blows through it, and you could take the view that perhaps Oakham Town Council has nothing to shout about.

"The secondary issue is that this council never seems to want to own Centenary Field – there is a very small logo about one and a half inches diameter that has 'Oakham Town Council' on it, and you have to be on the field and quite close to the sign to actually see it.

"Even local residents when they come to me won't talk about Centenary Field. Instead I get 'Corporation Gardens' because there is nothing telling anybody that we own Centenary Field and how to get in contact with us at the town council. When we do good things in the town, we've asked people to tell us they approve of them.

"Centenary Field has only recently had more than £2,000 of town council money spent on it to improve facilities, we're cutting the hedges, planting 18 new trees in November – but people don't know it's the town council doing it because they don't know the field is ours, and they then go and praise Rutland County Council instead."

This £2,000 spend, plus the purchase of the new sign, comes after the council turned down the proposal for a skatepark in the area in December. Read more here.

Cllr Wildbore concluded: "So, my suggestion is to take identity of this field and get a price for a double-sided banner promoting the town, maybe using the town crest with a poppy in the corner, because what we are trying to honour is a home to Rutland Remembers."

Members voted unanimously to approve the funding for the sign.