THE OWNERS of a newly launched Penarth business have criticised a local councillor for opposing a planning application for signage.

Penarth councillor Maureen Kelly-Owen described the application for a non-illuminated sign advertising the boutique shop ‘Shore’, based in the former Steamers Trading Company premises on Penarth Esplanade, as ‘crude’ and recommended that the matter should be considered by the Vale council planning committee.

The matter is set to be approved by the planning committee on Thursday, but the owners of the new outlet have expressed their disappointment that a local councillor had opposed the plans without consulting with them beforehand.

Andy Bradshaw, who owns Shore as well as Hamptons in the town centre with Peter Knowles, said that they found it “discourteous” that Cllr Kelly-Owen had not raised her concerns with them beforehand.

He added that before lodging the application they had consulted with local residents above the premises and had been given their full support.

“If the residents had been against it we wouldn’t have gone ahead with it,” he said.

“People have said we have brought something with class to the seafront and how much they like the signage as it keeps in with the area."

He added about Cllr Kelly-Owen’s comments: “I’m surprised that she didn’t come and talk to us about it. We run two businesses in Penarth and to not come and talk to use seems quite discourteous.”

The application is for the erection of a single non-illuminated sign measuring 1800mm in length, 1400mm in height and 20mm in depth. The sign has a full wood colour effect with a printed and laminated background, and reads ‘Shore’ ‘Life is better...at the beach’.

Penarth Town Council said that the application should be approved last month, while local Plymouth ward councillor Clive Williams said he had no comments to make.

But fellow Plymouth ward Councillor Maureen Kelly-Owen said: “The proposed signage looks pretty crude in the proposed location. I cannot give it my support and as Ward Councillor request it be brought to committee for report.”

Neighbouring properties were consulted last month, with one person objecting on the grounds that Windsor Court is primarily a residential unit, not a commercial unit, and that signage would be “inappropriate” and “misleading”.

The resident added that that the sign, which is sited within the Conservation Area, would not be appropriate “in view of the extensive heritage and renovation carried out to the pier buildings and sea front” and the belief that if it were approved it would encourage other businesses to display external advertisements that would be “damaging” to the view of the seafront.

But the planning report, which is set to go before the committee on Thursday, concluded that the sign would not detract from the character of the Esplanade or the immediate character of the surrounding area.

It added that there were examples of signage, works of art and advertisements along the seafront and that the signage would not detract from the character of the area as it was not “overly intrusive or overbearing to the character of the existing street scene”.

The matter is set to go before the Vale council planning committee on Thursday, December 18, at the Civic Offices at 6pm.