Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

To provide the Executive with an opportunity to decide whether to apply to the Secretary of State to request removal of deemed consent for lettings boards, with a view to implementing a ban on lettings boards in certain areas of Lincoln.

Decision

That the Executive approves an application to the Secretary of State for a Regulation 7 Direction to remove deemed consent for the display of lettings boards in the Monks Road area, West End area, Sincil Bank area, Union Road and Waterloo Street, with a view to implementing a ban on lettings boards in these areas.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None.

Reason for Decision

The Council’s Corporate Management Team gave approval to commence the process of applying to the Secretary of State for a Direction under Regulation 7 of the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007. This would remove deemed consent for lettings boards usually given under Class 3(A) of the regulations and would mean that express advertisement consent would be required for lettings boards in the specific areas covered by the Regulation 7.

Monks Road, the West End, Sincil Bank, Union Road and Waterloo Street had all been identified through enforcement complaints from residents, elected members and the Council’s officers. Surveys of the proposed areas took place in March 2017, September 2017 and January 2018 which identified the number and type of boards being displayed, and by whom.

Consultation on the proposed Regulation 7 direction took place between 16 October 2017 and 30 November 2017. A total of 134 responses had been received from stakeholders with the results set out in section 4 of the report. It was noted that 61.19% of stakeholders outlined that they considered this issue to be a very serious problem in the respective areas.