East End businesses are not too happy that Government has barred them from posting signs and banners near the corner of Kindley Field and St David’s Road.The Department of Airport Operations has put up a sign of its own on the wall ordering people not to post signs on that wall or nearby fencing. The sign says “No Signs Allowed” in big red letters.But small businesses and organisations from St George’s and Southside who have used the area to advertise for the past few years yesterday blasted the move.“It was a very nice place to have some advertising, and as far as I could see we were not hurting anyone or anything and in this economic environment we need all the help we can get,” said Amber Fisheries owner Jim Anthony. “It was pretty hard of them to take that away.”He said sign police even made him move a van with a sign advertising his business that was parked near the main road, since landlord BLDC allows tenants in his section of Southside to display only a certain type of generic signage.“That property where we put our signs is owned by the Bermudian people,” he added, referring to the Airport wall and fencing.Sports groups like the Motorcycle Racing Club and Karting Association, along with churches and other charitable organisations, also regularly used the wall and fencing to advertise weekend events.St George’s restaurant owner Selena Minors, who organises a number of community events in the East End, also criticised the ban.She said she was concerned to find out she could no longer use the space to advertise the annual BBQ Throwdown coming up soon.“St George’s is hurting as it is,” she said. “I just don’t think it was right.”She said the Department could have put some limits on how long the signs could be up and perhaps charge a small fee, rather than banning the advertising altogether.Marlon Laws, operator of Gombeys, near Clearwater Beach, said using the high-traffic area to advertise had definitely brought in business to his restaurant, and he could not see what was wrong with the signs. But he was “not going to make a fuss”, he said.The Department of Airport Operations told us the ban was put in place because the signs were illegal.“The land and fence bordering the LF Wade International Airport were divested back to the Department of Airport Operations from the Bermuda Land Development Company in 2010,” a DoA spokesman said. “DoA has noted that there has been a marked increase in the number of signs and posters that have been attached to this particular section of fencing. The posting of signs, banners and flyers without the property owner’s consent is illegal therefore DoA have begun to remove the illegal posting.”