Belfast City Council have ordered a huge banner be taken down from the former Belfast Telegraph Printworks building on Royal Avenue.
Developers McAleer and Rushe had applied for advertisement consent on a temporary mesh banner sign for a further period of 24 months, but were refused at the council’s recent meeting of its Planning Committee.
The banner, which aims to bring in business to the site renamed 'The Sixth', has already been up for four years, without any activity as yet having emerged in the building.
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The development website states: “Belfast City Council and McAleer and Rushe are planning to transform the former Belfast Telegraph site, renamed 'The Sixth' into a visionary new development that will provide state-of-the-art workspace in a rapidly changing location within the city centre.”
The Historic Environment Division at the Stormont Department for Communities objected to the banner. The council report states: “The HED was consulted and considered that the proposal is contrary to the policy requirements. It stated that the material, size, scale, alignment and location of the banner signage, in proximity to the historic fabric of the listed building, adversely affects its setting.”
The report adds: “The supporting statement for the application outlines the difficulty in the commercial property market as a result of the covid pandemic. It outlines how the locality is going through a period of transition with the construction of the university campus etc and that the aim of this application is to secure a tenant and funding package to enable the commencement of development of the site.
“Whilst the applicant’s position is not unreasonable, it can equally be argued that if the advert being in place for such an extended period has failed to garner the required interest then the owners should consider deploying other means of advertising.”
A council officer told the committee: “It is felt that the sign has been up for such a significant period of time that it was having a long term impact on the area. That was a conclusion members had reached.” Officers recommended refusal to elected members.
Green Councillor Áine Groogan said: “The fact this area is up-and-coming means to me we should be even more cautious around this, because if we allow for one we will have to allow for all, and you will see a proliferation in the area.
“And it will have a detrimental effect. Look at the sign as it is - it is pretty tatty. It has been up for four years, and only had permission for three. Covid has only been here for the past two years, so it didn’t really have much impact prior to that, so I don’t really see any excuse for going against policy. There is nothing really convincing at all here.”
DUP Councillor David Brooks said it was "a misuse of temporary permission." He said: "It is not particularly temporary if it is going to sit up there for years and years and years."
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