The Barn at Beal visitor centre signs refused
Jan 10 2009 by Brian Daniel, The Journal
BOSSES at a North visitor attraction are on collision course with a council over advertising signs.
The Barn at Beal, based on the road to Holy Island in Northumberland, is appealing against Berwick Borough Councils decision to refuse it planning permission for the signs.
The attraction, which aims to give visitors an insight into the farming industry, applied to the council last June for a series of signs on the approach road and at its entrance, all on private land.
They were to be oval in shape and beige in colour. With no decision forthcoming, the attractions creator Rodney Smith put the signs up. He did not want to risk people being unaware of the Barn at Beal, which only opened last March, during the peak visitor season.
A total of 17,000 people flocked to the attraction last year, which Mr Smith believes is largely down to the signs.
But in November, three months over the eight-week deadline for determining planning applications, the council rejected the attractions proposal.
It said the Northumberland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership had deemed the design of the signs to be inappropriate for their surroundings.
Mr Smith has left the signs up, having not received instruction from the council to remove them. If ordered to take them down, he fears visitor numbers would drop, with a possible consequence the need to lay off of some of his 22 staff.
The businessman has now lodged an appeal against the councils decision.
Mr Smith, 58, who opened the Barn at Beal on his farm, said: They are meant to let you know within so many months and then six months later, they said no on the grounds that the AONB did not seem to like the signs. The signs were tastefully done, there are no bright lights, they are not luminous. I made sure they were as much in keeping as possible. They do not look out of place. It is part of the advertising to get people into the Barn at Beal.
The appeal is to be conducted through written representations.
Berwick Borough Council was unavailable for comment yesterday.
