LOCAL artist Neil Hearn aka Artist Nellie Hearn is seeing red having received a letter which threatened fines of up to £250 a day after falling foul of a Wiltshire Council crackdown on fly-posting.
Neil and partner Jonathan received the letter this week from the council which relates to an incident back in March.
Artist Nellie Hearn often hosts an exhibition and sale at the Calne Springs Showroom at Tesco Superstore and in order to increase footfall, they put a few signs up around the town centre.
The letter from Wiltshire Council states that they have been investigating an offence under Section224 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990, of displaying any sign in contravention of the Advertisement Regulations. Such offences can carry a fine of £250 per day per sign. The letter goes on to say that they have made the decision not to prosecute on this occasion but the letter acts as a formal warning to ensure no signs will be displayed at 'any location within the control of Wiltshire Council'.
In response Neil Hearn posted on social media : "It's great that our council support independent local businesses. Not only is it unbelievable, but they take five months to issue this enforcement from the date of putting the signs up.
"We've never been asked to remove the signs. There are enforcements for builds without planning permission throughout the county that have not been actioned after years of illegal builds, and you the council, penalise us for a sign on a post!"
Earlier this month, Wiltshire Council announced they are raising the amount of the Fixed Penalty Notice people will have to pay if they are caught illegally advertising in Wiltshire. The fine has increased to £500 and has been implemented following feedback from local communities reporting more incidents of fly-posting. The council went on to say: 'Adverts erected on the public highway or attached to street furniture, such as lampposts or road traffic signs, require permission from Wiltshire Council. The council will take action against any signs on the public highway or on council-owned land. In the first instance and in small-scale cases, this may be a warning letter advising the person fly-posting that they should remove the advertisements, and if they comply and do not do it again the matter will be closed. If any signs are deemed dangerous or the owner is unknown, officers will remove them immediately.
If fly-posters fail to comply with a warning or they are repeat or large-scale offenders, the council will take further action. This could mean issuing a fixed penalty notice of £500 per sign, or prosecution, which could lead to a fine of up to £2,500 if the offender is convicted.'
Jonathan Hearn told us he just didn't understand why, when so many independent businesses are struggling to survive, the council found this necessary. He added: "We have spent alot of money on promotional signage but now afraid to put them up."
Meanwhile Nellie Hearn is busy preparing for a return to the Calne Springs Showroom on 11th and 12th October.
*Calne News has approached Wiltshire Council for comment and will update.
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