Agenda item

Costa Coffee, High Street

The Licensing Officer, Phil Cooper, introduced the report regarding an application from Costa Limited to place an advertising board on the highway outside Costa Coffee at 118-120 High Street, Cheltenham.  The A board would be displayed from 7am to 7pm Monday to Saturday and from 9am to 5pm on Sunday and would measure 1082mm x 762mm. No objections had been received, however the application does not comply with Council policy on the basis that the premises has ground level street frontage on Cambray Place and the High Street.  The Officer informed members that the policy states that A boards in the conservation area will only be approved for premises that are disadvantaged due to being in a basement or along a side alleyway and therefore with no street frontage.  Members were also advised that there is already an approved A board adjacent to this location, which has been in place for several years due to those premises being in a basement and having no shop frontage at street level.

A picture of the proposed A board was at Appendix A, with a plan of the proposed location at Appendix B.

The Officer advised members that having regard to the facts, they should decide whether to grant permission if they were satisfied that there were sufficient grounds to depart from policy or to refuse permission as the application did not comply with the adopted policy.

The applicant had been invited to the meeting but did not attend.

In response to questions from members, the Officer confirmed that the applicant had not contacted the Licensing Office to discuss signage on the building prior to the application. When asked about the signage on the building itself, the Officer advised that signage is a planning rather than licensing matter, but if the building is listed there may be limitations on signage.  However, he confirmed that Costa did have permission for tables and chairs outside the premises in Cambray Place which had complied with policy and which had barriers around them with the Costa branding on them. The Officer was advised by several members that the barriers had not been in place when they had passed by and the Officer said that he would deal with that as an enforcement matter.

One member stated that with the presence of barriers with Costa emblazoned on them and with the current signage that the brand was well known enough.  Another member reported that the Costa signage could be seen from the start of the pedestrianised area and that as the application was not compliant with policy he could see no reason to vary from the policy.

There being no further comments, the Chair moved to vote on 1.6.2 of the report being to refuse the application.

Upon a vote it was unanimous, 7 for, 0 against.

RESOLVED THAT, Costa Limited’s application for permission to place an A board on the highway outside the premises at 118-120 High Street, Cheltenham, be refused, as it did not comply with the provisions of the street scene policy.