THE banning of advertising boards on pavements in Okehampton town centre will have a detrimental effect on businesses, the town's chamber of trade chairman this week warned. West Devon Borough Council's planning committee voted unanimously on Tuesday to the removal of A-boards in Okehampton and Tavistock which had now, according to officers, reached a level that was causing an inconvenience to pedestrians and detracting from the historic nature of the towns. Shops and cafe owners will have to remove the signs by March 24 or they will be removed by the council's enforcement team without further notice. Chairman of Okehampton Chamber of Trade Ian Bailey said the move was a great shame. 'With some premises, it's the only way of communicating the business is there, especially off the Fore Street area. I think it is going to be detrimental to trade,' he said. 'Without some sort of signage it will be impossible to locate some businesses.' Mr Bailey said the chamber would try to get the decision changed. 'Some members feel very strongly about it,' he added. 'They use them to advertise special offers as well.' He said that efforts had been made to try and keep the boards against walls so they did not encroach too far on the pavement. The planning committee heard that last month there had been a significant increase in the number of signs — as of last month there were 44 such signs in Tavistock and 17 in Okehampton. Planning officers considered this signage to be visually harmful and in places impeded the use of pavements and dropped kerbs. Okehampton Town Council had expressed concerns over the proliferation of unnecessary signs, safety aspects and the cluttering of the street scene. Pavement signs required the consent of both the landowner, in this case, Devon County Council and that of the local planning authority — but none of the signs had consent, the committee was told. Chief planning officer Jane Hart said: 'Officers are well aware of the potential sensitivity of this issue and the importance of maintaining the viability of town centres but the signs have now reached a level which detracts from our historic towns and are being an inconvenience to pedestrians.' It was suggested that a small number of well designed, fixed shared signs would be preferable to the individual boards in secondary trading positions.
