Agenda item

Display of 1no. lettering sign. [Guildhall Ward] [Site Visit]

Members considered an advert application by Mr Gordon Gildener for the display of a lettering sign.

Officers circulated a colour photograph of the corner of Tower Street/Peckitt Street showing how the proposed lettering would appear on the side of the building.

Representations were received from the applicant in support of his application. He advised Members that the majority of the buildings in Tower Street and Peckitt Street were professional offices not residential properties as stated by the planning officer. He advised Members that their solicitor’s practice was expanding, that they had taken on new staff in recent years and intended to take on four further staff in the new year. As part of this expansion, there was a need to increase the profile of the practice within the city centre and the existing brass plaque was not an adequate means of directing customers to their offices. He stated that the proposed signage was  in keeping with signage used by other solicitors in the city with similar corner locations, as well as city centre hotels.

In response to the speaker’s comments, officers stated that the report refers to the fact that the properties had been erected as residential properties and that the building retained a residential character.

Members noted that shop frontages had been introduced on Tower Street which already removed some of the residential character of the buildings and the ring road sign in front of the building also detracted from the building.

Councillor Galvin moved and Councillor Steve Galloway seconded a motion to approve the application subject to the conditions listed in the report. On being put to the vote, the motion fell.

For clarification, officers explained that their recommendation of refusal was because 1 Peckitt Street was a listed building with a residential character and they believed that the commercial nature of the sign detracted from the residential character of the building. They stated that whereas signage could be justified in the case of shops which rely on footfall, commercial offices do not usually rely on footfall in the same way. They also advised that advert application regulations did not require the local authority to take into account other signage when determining an application.

Members noted that the photograph showed the residential character of the building and agreed that the lettering would detract from the residential character of this listed building.

RESOLVED:             That the application be refused.

REASON:                 Taking the location and historic character of the buildings into consideration it is felt that the proposed high-level signage would be intrusive in views, particularly of the Clifford's Tower and the associated monument.   The scale and location of the signage will detract form the domestic, residential character of the listed buildings which will change the character of the area and detract from the historic quality of the setting of designated assets of the highest significance, contrary to Policies HE4, HE8 and GP21 of the City of York Development Control Local Plan and national planning guidance contained in Planning Policy Statement 5 " Planning for the Historic Environment " and Planning Policy Guidance Note No.19 " Outdoor Advertisement Control. "