The owner of a fish and chip shop who has lost a series of planning battles to keep his “brash” signage has now applied to take part of it down.
Moussa Salama lost three planning appeals relating to the frontage of Fish and Chips in Preston Street.
He was first ordered to remove both the signs and the tiled ramp in front of the shop by Brighton and Hove City Council in 2021 after a retrospective planning application for them was turned down.
Mr Salama appealed both the notice and the refusal – but both were dismissed.
He then applied again to keep the signs, but just remove their interior lighting. This was also appealed – and also dismissed.
He has now applied to remove the bigger sign and replace it with a smaller, “subtle” version. The tiled ramp and its glass balustrade are not mentioned.
The application, written by architects RDA1, says: “We have taken on board the comments raised in the appeal decision.
“The main concerns given the nature of Preston Street is that no sign is overly dominant and is sympathetic to the architecture ie buildings that are predominantly from the Regency period which form part of the Regency Square Conservation Area.
“We believe the new proposal has been carefully considered, the design has addressed all of the previous concerns from the planning inspectorate. We have also referred to planning document.
“The proposal does not dominate any of the building or harm the interest that characterises Preston Street, it is subtle and compliments the significance of the conservation area.”
In dismissing the latest application, planning inspector Stewart Glasser said: Given the nature of Preston Street, there are a range of signs and shopfronts.
“This variety contributes to the colourful character of the road. Nevertheless, the regency ambiance and architecture remain evident and no one shopfront or sign is overly dominant.
“However, even in the varied context of Preston Street, the large sign on the two-storey part of the appeal building is, given its size and finish, particularly prominent and brash.
“The facia sign, which uses similar materials and is also excessively scaled and out of proportion to the shopfront below, visually dominates the single storey part of the building.
“Consequently, either individually or in combination, the signs are highly conspicuous and visually intrusive features in the street scene.”