Worrying signs for Warkworth farmer

Jan 15 2009 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

A SECOND Northumberland businessman has clashed with his local council over advertising signs for his business.

The Journal reported on Saturday how Rodney Smith, creator of The Barn at Beal, is taking Berwick Borough Council to appeal after it rejected his bid to erect signs advertising the venue.

Now, Peter Forsyth, who runs New Barns Farm Shop at Warkworth, has come forward, having had several advertising signs taken down by Alnwick District Council. The 39-year-old first put up signs in 2007. They were wooden and handpainted and, he believes, attractive.

Mr Forsyth, who is a tenant farmer for the Duke of Northumberland, believed the signs were crucial, given that his business is difficult to find because of its location.

He did not know he would require council approval, but before long, a complaint was made to the district. Mr Forsyth was ordered to take the signs down, and was not given the chance to apply for retrospective approval. He was told the only signs which could be erected were brown tourist signs – which Mr Forsyth believes are ugly.

Eventually the council took the signs down. He said: “We are a local business, and we have lived here for four generations. The economic climate being as it is, any assistance to a business employing local people, to me it would make sense to actually help them out a bit – a certain degree of flexibility.” Annoyed at what had happened, Mr Forsyth put up another £800 worth of signs. This time, two complaints were made to the council. And again, Mr Forsyth was ordered to remove the signs last autumn, prior to the council taking them down. The businessman currently has no signs and is planning to see how the venture copes without them this year.

He will then consider applying for consent, reluctantly, for brown signs.

Mr Forsyth employs one full-time and one part-time employee, and more in the spring and summer when the farm’s coffee shop is open. He added: “We are not trying to do anybody any harm or offend anyone in the slightest, we are just trying to run a business.”

Last night, the council said one of Mr Forsyth’s initial signs was one of many which had been erected at a busy road junction and been deemed a distraction to motorists and a road safety hazard.

The signs further contravened planning regulations and policy and were situated within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and within the Warkworth Conservation Area.

Melanie Thew, council monitoring and enforcement officer, said: “While the district council genuinely wants to support local businesses, it also has to enforce the advertisement regulations, apply planning policy for advertisements and appropriately exercise its power in relation to public safety and amenity.”