Stafford Council left red-faced over banner error
Officials at Stafford Borough Council have been forced to remove an advertising banner after realising it breached the local authority’s own signage regulations
Thursday, 10 Jul 2014 11:32 GMT
Officials admitted that the banner was too big to have been installed without securing necessary planning permission (Picture courtesy of Express and Star)
The council, which previously threatened businesses with prosecution over installing signs, erected an advertising banner on a fence at Victoria Park promoting a consultation about the park’s future development.
However, the error was soon pointed out to red-faced officials, who admitted that the banner was too big to have been installed without securing the necessary planning permission.
Speaking to the Express and Star newspaper, council spokesman Will Conaghan said: “The banners were on the outside of Victoria Park asking people to take part in a consultation about future improvements to the park.
“The council is not exempt from planning regulations. The banners were too big and removed more than six weeks ago.
The council is not exempt from planning regulations”
“If we make a mistake regarding planning rules we will take action to rectify it just as we would expect any other business or organisation to do.”
The news comes after the council last year ordered Stafford’s Plumbits to take down ten signs that had been in place for 20 years.
The council ruled that owner Andy Wheeler needed consent for the signs and threatened him with prosecution.
If we make a mistake regarding planning rules we will take action to rectify it just as we would expect any other business or organisation to do”
Solicitors wrote to Wheeler about the size and number of signs, and informed him that he needed advertisement consent for all 10 signs.
In response, Wheller said: “What has annoyed me the most is that the council didn’t come to me directly and speak to me.
“We had this letter, which was quite threatening, out of the blue. The signs have been there 20 years and all of a sudden there is one complaint and now we are victims.”
