The detrimental effects of Royal Holloway’s expansion are numerous and far-reaching with many having a direct impact on the quality of our daily lives.
One such impact is the sight of copious estate agent signs on what seems like permanent display: something the local Planning Department describes as ‘an adverse effect on the visual amenity of the area’s character and appearance’.
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| Signs have an adverse effect on visual amenity |
The main reason behind this ‘adverse effect’ is the high density of HMOs that we have in Egham and Englefield Green which, as our article explains, is a consequence of Royal Holloway’s failure to build the student accommodation that it led the community to believe it was going to provide.
Numerous HMOs on short-term lets means a high turnover in tenancy agreements and it is these that provide opportunities for the numerous advertising boards which, once up, often stay up: something that we have campaigned against for several years now. Now though, the council is responding – thanks to your reporting efforts – and proposes to do something about it.
Although most advertising signs need planning permission, there are some types of signs for which consent is deemed to have been given and estate agent signs fall under this category. However, planning authorities can apply to remove this ‘deemed consent’ which would mean that such signs could not be erected without express planning permission.
At this stage Runnymede Borough Council is consulting on the idea of removing deemed consent on signs advertising residential lettings only and the arrangement would only apply to certain areas of Egham and Englefield Green but the council wants to hear your views.
A map of the proposed area and the council’s evidence paper can be found here. Also, if you want to hear what your local councillors had to say about the consultation, then you can view them in the webcast published here:
https://runnymede.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1090788
just click on the arrow to the right of item 7. The discussion is about 14 minutes long.
We would encourage all residents to support this initiative but we also believe that there is a strong case for removing deemed consent for ALL types of estate agent signs as many are left up for much longer than the law allows and thus contribute to the visual clutter of our communities and eventually end up as rubbish in our streets.
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| Many signs end up as litter |
If you want to submit your comments by e-mail then the following template may help:
To: planningpolicy@runnymede.gov.uk
Subject: Control of Estate Agent Boards
I am writing to convey my support for the principle of removing deemed consent for the placing of estate agent lettings boards.
<Insert any further comments of your own here>
Kind regards,
<Your name>
Comments may also be submitted by post in which case they should be sent to:
Planning Policy Team
Runnymede Borough Council
Civic Centre
Station Road
Addlestone
Surrey
KT15 2AH
The deadline for comments is Friday, 17th July so please don’t miss it.