A Spalding heritage group has written to central government in a bid to get a planning law changed over the appearance of shop fronts.
The Spalding Civic Society wants to ban the use of vinyl inside and outside of shop front windows to block them with images.
Under current planning laws, shops are allowed to have the vinyl inside.
The Civic Society had proposed the South East Lincolnshire local plan include a rule banning it locally, but was told it’s allowed under a 20-year-old rule on the Regulations for Control of Advertisements.
The society’s March newsletter states: “No-one crosses the road to look at a pumped-up parsnip or zoomed-up beer cans. In effect, it’s like being assailed by a succession of gross advertising hoardings at eye-level or, if like B&M on Winsover Road, by a blank wall.”
Along with B&M the Civic Society highlight Baltic off-licence, also on Winsover Road, as another such shopfront using vinyl on the inside of its windows and therefore conforming to planning laws.
“The Society has not felt it could sit back and do nothing any longer.
“We can only conclude that the present national regulations are no longer fit for purpose.
“Accordingly, the Society has written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government urging the need for the regulations regarding shop windows to be brought up to date, along the lines we have suggested.
“We are also bringing the need to the attention of the Planning Inspectorate, Civic Voice, our MP, and various influential columnists in the national press.”
