South Tyneside Council has refused permission for a vape shop to keep a digital advertising sign, with planning officials describing it as “incongruous” and “harmful to residential amenity.”
Application for Advertisement Consent
The council's planning department rejected an application to retain a double-sided projecting sign at 235A Victoria Road East, Hebburn. Applicant Smart Vape had sought advertisement consent for the digital display, which a planning application stated would “show static or slow-changing advertising content for the business”.
The application also highlighted that the sign's brightness would be “automatically controlled to suit surrounding light conditions and reduce glare at night” and that the sign would be “securely fixed and designed to avoid any impact on visual amenity or highway safety.”
Reasons for Refusal
Despite these assurances, planning officers rejected the proposals over concerns about the visual impact on the surrounding area and the effect on residents in nearby flats. A council decision report concluded that the signage would have a “poor impact on the appearance of the host building and is detrimental to the visual amenity of the wider area”.
Officers also noted that the advert had been “positioned incongruously at a higher level than the shopfront between the ground and first floors of the property and cuts across horizontal architectural detailing to the front elevation which is a characteristic feature of the host property and its neighbours”.
Impact on Residents
Planners highlighted the “vivid and vibrant colours of a LED display, together with the changing display and colour schemes” as drawing undue attention to the advertisement. They argued that the combination of these factors “results in harm to both the character of the frontage and the quality of the street scene”.
Furthermore, the advert is visible from the windows of neighbouring residential flats, and planners concluded that it would be “harmful to the residential amenity of those occupying these first floor flats.”
The applicant retains the right to appeal the council's refusal. For further details, visit the council's planning portal website and search for reference 260223.
