The City and Country (C&C) advertising boards on the corner plot of Guinea Street and Lower Guinea Street were placed there to promote the sale of apartments in the General. Planning permission for these boards lapsed on 1st December 2019 and C&C only applied for a retrospective extension of permission on 1st June 2020. City Council planning consent was given ‘on a temporary basis’ and the signs were to be removed on or before the end of May 2022. If all the apartments were sold prior to this date, ‘the signs must be removed at this earlier point.’ The signs are still with us.
In May this year we received an apology from the City Council Planning Enforcement Team (PET), who assured us that they ‘are still in the process of getting the signage removed and hope to have achieved this aim in the next two weeks.’ PET cannot remove the signs themselves; they can only ask C&C to do so. Have ignored planning rules for over 17 months, C&C now announce that they are seeking further permission to keep the boards where they are, despite the fact that they are no longer advertising General properties. PET have asked C&C to make an application by 14th November. As the original permission was only granted because there were unsold apartments in the General, we wonder how C&C will justify keeping these unsightly boards on the quayside of Bathurst Basin.
Earlier news items of ours on this topic: June 5, 2020 and May 17, 2023.