Turkish restaurant can keep 'brash' signage

A Turkish restaurant that was told to remove its "brash" illuminated signs has been told it may keep them after all.

Fenland District Council approved the fascia sign on the front of F&S Majestic in March, Cambridgeshire, despite refusing retrospective permission in September.

Councillors said the surrounding area on Broad Street had changed over the last six months, with other illuminated signs approved there, as well as the demolition of a former Barclay's bank building.

F&S Majestic is located in a former NatWest building, which a council conservation officer described as being of "architectural and historic significance".

In a submission to councillors, the officer wrote that a trio of signs reading "breakfast", "lunch and "dinner" on the building resulted in the "unnecessary proliferation of brash signage".

Council officers recommended that the signs again be refused, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Conservative councillor David Conner said at a council planning meeting that "although the application itself has not changed, the surroundings most definitely have".

"USA Chicken is all lit up in the darkness, the barber's pole is all lit up in the darkness," he said. "The vista has most definitely changed."

Conservative councillor Charlie Marks said: "At the end of the day, this is a business and we are here to support business."

The majority of councillors voted to approve the sign at the meeting on Wednesday.

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