Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

The Salisbury piazza - latest development

.. Is a solicitor's firm, ostensibly of the ambulance-chasing variety, is setting up shop in the empty building opposite the pub and has garishly adorned its frontage thus...

Surely this needs planning permission on account of its size and prominence? And surely the council will take action? ..

One thing is beyond doubt - this sign is a provocative eyesore. If it stays we can surely all agree the piazza dream is dead...

Tags for Forum Posts: 2012-13", harringay, regeneration

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on July 9, 2014 at 10:50

Thérèse, it seems that you've looked into the legal powers available to the Council to "insist" on having this sign removed. Could you please point them out.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on July 9, 2014 at 16:54

Alan, looking at the signage I doubt it contravenes planning regs. It's not illuminated, on a listed building, oversized or in a conservation area. Even if it does require planning permission I would think that this being granted retrospectively would be a formality.

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Permalink Reply by HarringayBirder on July 9, 2014 at 22:02

From the Government's publication "Outdoor advertisements and signs: a guide for advertisers":

"Class 2(B) permits notices or signs to be displayed on any premises for
the purpose of advertising the fact that a person, partnership or company
is carrying on a profession, business or trade at those premises. These
would include:
● a brass plate outside a doctor’s surgery
● a notice-board displaying the names of individuals in a partnership
● the name of a company operating from the premises.
An advertisement in Class 2(B) must not exceed 0.3 of a square metre in
area, but if there is more than one entrance to the premises on different
road frontages, two advertisements of 0.3 of a square metre each may be
displayed (on a separate frontage), as in illustrations 14 and 15."

However I have also found that the firm applied for, and were granted permission for signage earlier this year:

http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/Applica...

(I found it through googling and then clicking on a link to this HoL page:

http://www.harringayonline.com/forum/topics/planning-application-fo...)

It seems that the signage that was approved is shown in the documents which are third and fourth up from the bottom of the list of files shown on that page.

Clearly, the signs that have been put up are nothing like those in the application: they are larger, they do not give the name of the solicitors, and they refer to specific services rather than merely the nature of the business.

I have therefore this evening completed the online questionnaire to complain and have stated "The Council has apparently invested a very substantial amount of money on the improvement of the Green Lanes environment, the flagship of the scheme being the "pocket park" and piazza outside the Salisbury. The purpose and aims of this scheme are wholly undermined by this gross and cynical commercial flouting of planning regulations."

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on July 10, 2014 at 7:22

The signage of 0.3m is what you're allowed without seeking permission - like the plaques they have on Harley Street doctors' premises. I don't think they can refuse permission because of the wording unless it was offensive in some way. A lot of applications have words like "sample sign" as a placeholder for instance. I wasn't clear from the application if the signs were meant to be individually free standing or if they could argue that they were using the combined sizes that were agreed. Might be worth contacting Planning Enforcement to get a view because they do seem to be interpreting the conditions of the permission in a rather liberal way.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on July 10, 2014 at 7:40

Can I add to this helpful information the suggestion that anyone who feels strongly about the sign should support Harringay Birder by sending their own email to Haringey Planning Enforcement asking them to look closely at the original application and to consider whether or not the applicants are in breach.

planning.enforcement@haringey.gov.uk

I'd suggest as well, copying in the councillors for both Harringay and St Ann's wards and the Director, Ms Lyn Garner ( lyn.garner@haringey.gov.uk )

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Permalink Reply by Seema Chandwani on July 4, 2014 at 2:16

This is the same company that has been in Willoughby Road for years who have relocated.

Personally I would have put the Dogus furniture shop in there, kept the queens head as a pub/bar. But I own none of these businesses nor have a lease on any of these properties... so blah!!