You may smile at the attempt in October 2014 by the Planning Department at Rushmoor Borough Council to limit the colours you may use in decorating shops and signs/advertisements by excluding “vivid” colours in their Planning Policies (Design Principle 6(DP6)). The Council cannot lawfully control colour in this way (including the colour of advertisements), unless it is a listed building. But the BSGA still objected to the proposal as part of its ongoing work for its members on planning matters. The crucial issue is that Councils must not automatically assume that they have this power and therefore the right to refuse any application for consent because they do not like the colour (consider what many Councils think of as “corporate signage”).
What is less funny though is that Councils sometimes think that they can implement such a policy as if it was law. Equally so, you may (often unwittingly) fall foul of the proper planning process. Unbelievably, any transgression, however minor, could go straight to Court as a criminal offence.
Two things are going on here: first is the continuous attempts by Councils to implement planning policies for their areas without any seemingly basic understanding of the modern world and the national Planning Laws – and with only personal prejudices in mind (e.g. all signs must be sign written on wood). The BSGA monitors and responds to all attempts by Councils to change their planning polices and restrictions that may affect the Sign Industry and we report this regularly to our Members so examples such as the one put in by Rushmoor would not be a surprise.
The second and less reported concern is that you may not realise that you might become liable for a criminal offence. As it stands, the law makes anyone involved in the display of an advertisement potentially liable – this includes companies and (individually) directors. The offence may well include the provision and maintenance of any advertisement (and has been held to be so in the High Court). And the unbelievable situation is that the present law makes any violation, however minor, a criminal offence. A criminal offence may include a fine and a criminal record. Think about it! Try getting a USA visa with a criminal record.
The BSGA (in co-operation with the Outdoor Media Centre (OMC)) are pressing the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to decriminalise the control of outdoor advertising (which would align with other planning law). We are pushing for a change to the system which would involve a legal system whereby the Council would have to go through a formal enforcement process before any transgression of the law could become liable to criminal enforcement. This would mean that there will be a formal enforcement procedure before any prosecution could be pursued. The result will be that the possibility of receiving a fine and a criminal record would not be possible before being formally forewarned of the infringement and granted the opportunity to respond via an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
The BSGA, in co-operation with the OMC are putting together a proposal to demonstrate to Government (whichever colour wins the General Election in May 2015) that the present law is disproportionate in its ridiculous impact on minor transgressions. It has a potentially unbelievably anti-business impact (we know of businesses which have been forced to close) and should, if only in fairness, be changed. We have already presented a few examples to officials at DCLG and have been told that our case has merits. You may consider your own “beware of the dog” sign being bigger than allowable, leading to a court appearance; or the actual reported case of a boy having to remove, with the threat of prosecution and a criminal record for him or his legal guardian, the pirate flag from his garden play house as the Council considered it to be an illegal advertisement!
But we need more examples
If you have any such stories of excessive persecutions by local authorities of minor transgressions – even anecdotal – the stronger our case for the proper reclassification of this “offence” as only a transgression of planning law – no fine, no criminal record. Please forward these to planning@bsga.co.uk and we will add them to the growing list of examples.
We will never be able to prevent the incompetent continuing to try to instigate ridiculous planning rules that bear no resemblance to reality. But with your help, we have a fighting chance of decriminalising immediate transgression.
European Sign Federation