THE VALE Council has approved planning permission for a new ‘Penarth Pier Pavilion’ sign despite objections from Penarth Town Council.

Penarth councillors had recommended refusal to the application as they considered the existing signage to be adequate and believed that a new sign would be “unnecessary and inappropriate”.

They had warned that it would “cheapen” the iconic building and would be unfair to surrounding businesses competing for trade.

But the Vale Council planning department approved the application and said that it “would not visually clutter the elevation and should not detract from the pier as a whole”.

It added that “the style, materials, size and location of the signage is considered acceptable and would not be of any detriment to the character or historic fabric of this listed building.”

A report before the Vale Council planning committee recommending that the application be approved stated that the sign was "simple in style and non-illuminated and that "neither the size of the lettering nor the stainless steel material would detract from the visual qualities of this elevation of the Pavilion, and are therefore considered suitable.”

It added: “The Penarth Town Council has raised concerns with the proposals stating that the new signage would be unnecessary and inappropriate. However, as the agent has demonstrated, there has been signage in this position on the Pavilion in the past and so this signage would not set a new precedent. The signage would not visually clutter the elevation and should not detract from the pier as a whole.”

Penarth Town Council noted the report during their planning and transportation committee meeting on Thursday night, June 19.