Highways contractor Amey has been accused of an act of "heritage vandalism" after scrapping a very rare school crossing sign in historic suburb Bournville.
Despite promising to refurbish the sign next to the village green in Sycamore Road, the contractor "inadvertently" threw it in a skip and it is now lost forever.
The sign was unique to Birmingham and featured a school boy with a cap and satchel leading a girl.
It was gradually replaced after the 1950s when warning signs were standardised as triangles with red boarders but Bournville retained its own sign in keeping with its heritage status.
There are so few left Amey has been unable to find a replacement.
Coun Timothy Huxtable (Con Bournville) said: "This was a unique heritage feature within the Bournville Conservation Area. Instead of refurbishing it as promised, it has instead been replaced with a standard, modern school crossing sign and scrapped, which I can only describe as an act of heritage vandalism."
He complained to the Labour cabinet member for transport Coun Tahir Ali that his repeated requests for a replacement or replica sign over several months had fallen on deaf ears and called for action.
"Amey has refused to supply such a sign even though they have admitted their error and apologised for scrapping this unique heritage sign," Coun Huxtable added.
Coun Ali (Lab Nechells) replied: "The sign could not be maintained on the highway due to it failing to comply with regulations.
"Amey had intended to retain this old sign but it was inadvertently discarded after its removal.
"Amey is hopeful an equivalent sign can be found which can be refurbished and presented to Bournville Village Trust."
In a further reply to Coun Huxtable, Amey said: "We have undertaken an extensive search to try to obtain a similar sign that Bournville Village Trust could keep as a heritage item.
"Regrettably, we have so far been unable to locate an equivalent anywhere in the UK."
The company said it had issued a request through its national network of road repair contracts for a sign.
And added a replica could not be made as exact materials were not "readily available" and therefore a replica would only be a "representation" and of no heritage value.
Amey has previously come under fire for replacing popular old fashioned cast iron street signs with modern lightweight ones.
