National retailer Wren Kitchens is in hot water with a local council, after councillors declared the many showroom signs at its Perth store are “visual clutter” that is “detrimental to the amenity of the area”.
The store in question opened its doors in St Catherine’s Retail Park last December. However, in July, seven months after the store originally opened, the company submitted an approval application for outdoor signage which has now been refused by Perth and Kinross Council.
In the proposed signage request, Wren detailed dimensions for nine illuminated and non-illuminated signs outside the store, and indicated it had not previously discussed the signage with the local authority.
However, the Council has now officially denied the request, meaning the store’s signage is technically in violation of the Council’s planning guidance for retail store advertising.
Perth and Kincross Council objected to a host of features of the signs, specifically referring to “the number of individual signs, the total area covered, the maximum height, the range of background colours, and the variations in the lettering,” saying that all of this results in “visual clutter” outside the store.
The Council says the matter “is now being referred to the Planning Enforcement Team”, who will investigate the matter further.
Although the application has been officially denied, Wren will likely have an opportunity to resolve the issue informally by changing their signage or appealing the decision. The Council itself says that most planning control breaches like this are “resolved informally”, and that “only a relatively small number of cases require formal enforcement action”.
kbbreview has reached out to Wren for comment.