School children's mural must have planning permission, after Sheffield Council decide it's an advert
A community has been told to get planning permission for a colourful mural designed by schoolchildren - because Sheffield Council says is an ‘advert’
Pupils from Abbey Lane Primary School’s student council worked with local businesses and community groups to design the ‘Welcome to Woodseats’ mural on the side of a council house property besides their school.
The artwork features the school and local wildlife on what was once a bare, graffiti-covered wall.
Permission was sought from the relevant housing department and the home’s tenant and the mural was painted on April 11 this year.
However, following contact made with the planning department of the council, they were informed the design would be classed as an advertisement and as a such they must apply for planning permission.
The Star contacted the council for clarification on how these murals or classified.
They explained that these definitions are not made by the council, but rather the government.
A spokesperson said: “The advertisement control system falls under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007 and an ‘advertisement’ is defined, in section 336(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended), as - ‘any word, letter, model, sign, placard, board, notice, awning, blind, device or representation, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of, and employed wholly or partly for the purposes of, advertisement, announcement or direction...’
“Whilst what constitutes ‘advertisement, announcement or direction’ may be up for some interpretation, the government sets out in ‘Outdoor advertisements and signs: a guide for advertisers’ that the definition covers a very wide range of advertisements and signs.
“The inclusion of a phrase such as ‘Welcome to Woodseats’ falls within the definition of an advertisement and so a mural, or other medium, containing such is considered to need advertisement consent.”
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An email shared on the planning application goes on to say that they see no problem with the application being supported.
There are currently no comments on the application and consultation ends on July 18.
A decision on the mural’s future is set to be made on August 22.