Agenda item

Slater’s Menswear

Louis Krog, Business Support and Licensing Team Leader introduced the report as circulated with the agenda.  An application had been made to renew the existing consent to place a straight sided and straight bottomed ‘A’ board outside 13-17 Promenade.

Louis Krog advised the Committee that this ‘A’ board had previously had consent.  On renewal of the consent it was considered necessary to refer the application to Committee because the Council’s policy had changed and the application does not comply with the newly adopted policy as detailed in 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 of the report.

It is intended that the ‘A’ board be displayed for the following times;

Monday          08.30-17.30

Tuesday         08.30-17.30

Wednesday   08.30-17.30

Thursday        08.30-19.30

Friday             08.30-17.30

Saturday         08.30-17.30

Sunday           11.00-16.00

Appendix A of the report showed an image of the ‘A’ board.

Appendix B of the report detailed a location map.

Members asked the following Officer questions;

• A Member said they felt this was controversial.  The Member said they thought if the premises were trading on the ground floor and had shop frontage this would not comply with the current policy.  The Member advised the Committee that this store trades upstairs on the first floor with one boxed window.
• Louis Krog referred Members to point 3.5 of the revised outdoor advertising policy and confirmed that although the store trades on the first floor the premises still had shop frontage.  Louis Krog advised Members that this store had had the ‘A’ board since 2003.
• When asked, Mr Krog said that only the change in policy had brought this application to Committee today, no complaints had been received about the ‘A’ board which had been there since 2003.  It was for Members to decide today if the application should be approved or not.

Mr Gardner, store manager attended the meeting and spoke in support of his application.  He referred Members to 1.2 of the report which detailed the times that the ‘A’ board would be displayed.  On Thursdays the ‘A’ board would be displayed between 8.30 and 17.30 not 8.30 to 19.30 as indicated in the report.

Mr Gardner said that the store had first opened in 2003 and the store front window had always been used.  The premises trades on the 2nd floor over 10,000 square metres.  There is a very small entrance to the store with one window at the front of the premises just big enough to display a mannequin in it.  The ‘A’ board has been there for 10 years with no problems at all.

Members asked the following questions;

• Two Members stated that they had previously visited  premises and had had to ask where the premises was.  The ‘A’ board added direction to the premises.
• When asked, Mr Gardner said a lot of trade would be lost without the ‘A’ board.  There were 20 Slaters stores nationwide and 18 of the premises had ‘A’ boards due to the location of the premises.  This ‘A’ board would help people when they were looking for the store and help people find the store.
• A Member stated that they supported this application and the ‘A’ board was needed for this type of premises trading on the 2^nd floor and it enhanced the location.

In summing up, Mr Gardner said that all other premises in that area had 5 times the size of shop frontage to Slaters and even with illuminating the small front window they were still at a disadvantage.

Members were advised they had the following recommendations to vote for.

1.                  The application be approved because Members are satisfied there are sufficient reasons to deviate from the new policy in respect of objects placed on the highway.

2.                  The application be refused because Members are not satisfied that the A board complies with the Council’s new policy in respect of objects placed on the highway.

Upon a vote it was (6 for, 2 against, 2 abstentions)

RESOLVED that the application be approved because Members are satisfied there are sufficient reasons to deviate from the new policy in respect of objects placed on the highway.