Signs approved for new store

The retailer was granted consent by councillors for the advertisements on the building’s roof.

They voted to reject a planning officer’s advice the signs were prominent and obtrusive.

But the company has scrapped a proposal for a third sky sign as a compromise. This was accepted by Arun District Council’s development control committee when they formally voted to refuse it permission.

Cllr Simon McDougall (Lib Dem, Bersted) said: “As the ward member, I fully support this application. Sainsbury’s is well and truly back on the map in Bognor. Long may that continue and I hope their store will be successful.”

One of the signs is on the north-east fascia and faces across its car park. The other is on the rear of the store and looks south-west towards the Orchard Way roundabout.

Council planning officer Cian Cronin said Sainsbury’s had erected the signs last July without permission.

That was only sought the following month.

“The signs are just under 7m long and nearly 3.5m tall. They are just shy of 13m above the ground at their highest point,” he said. Their positions broke the council’s planning guidelines for signs to be sited below a building’s fascia and the sills of its first floor windows.

“The prominent positioning of the signs on top of what is an already tall building means the signs are readily visible from long distances outside the site,” he stated. “Although the colour scheme and the design are simple, the lettering is large.”