PROTECTING CARMARTHEN CONSERVATION AREA

A Carmarthen business owner has been prosecuted for having an illuminated projecting box sign on a shop front in the town’s Conservation Area.

Nese Baksi, of Lammas Pizza in Lammas Street, was convicted at Llanelli Magistrates Court in her absence of failing to remove an advertising sign which had been fixed to a building within a conservation area without consent.

The court heard that in February 2015 Carmarthenshire County Council, as Local Planning Authority, became aware of an un-authorised internally illuminated projecting box sign at 30 Lammas St, Carmarthen.

The property lies within a Conservation Area and a thin flat sign hanging from a bracket is considered a more sympathetic alternative, being a traditional form of advertisement. This sign can be externally illuminated using an acceptable form of lighting.

The authority wrote to the owner twice which resulted in a meeting at which an alternative was discussed. In the absence of further progress, a letter formally requiring the removal of the box sign was issued in January 2016, allowing three months for compliance to allow sufficient time for a hanging sign to be sourced. As the sign was still in place at the end of April 2016 prosecution proceedings were commenced.

Mrs Baksi was fined £500 with £164.31 costs and a victim surcharge of £50.

Council executive board member for environmental and public protection Cllr Jim Jones said: “The county council takes its responsibility to protect the character of Conservation Areas seriously and if we are unable to resolve problems through discussions we will prosecute to ensure that the planning rules are complied with.”