Oxford business owner says council forced sign removal

A business owner has said a council is forcing him to remove a sign above his cafe that criticises traffic filters.

Clinton Pugh, father of actor Florence Pugh, owns three food businesses in Oxford including Cafe Coco in Cowley Road.

He says Oxford City Council is forcing him to remove the sign on the side of his business which is part of his campaign against traffic policies.

But a council spokesperson said the advert requires planning consent.

Mr Pugh said the advertisement board has been there for years and the council is telling him to remove a poster put up in November because it is speaking against the Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) and traffic filter policies.

He said posters on the board had previously been advertisements for the business.

The business owner said the LTNs had negatively impacted businesses in Cowley Road.

After Mr Pugh was told to remove the sign, he added a new poster on top of the original one.

It said: "After 26 years of displaying signs here, Oxford City Council have demanded we remove this one, We Wonder Why?"

Mr Pugh told the BBC he agrees that Oxford needs to be cleaner and greener, just not through current policies.

A city council spokesperson said a complaint was made from a member of the public about the "unauthorised advertisement" on 13 January.

It said: "Such an advertisement requires planning consent from the local authority."

The council has not received a complaint about the board on Café Coco since 1994 which is why it had not taken action since then.

They continued that consent had not been requested for the advert nor does it qualify for "deemed consent" which applies to certain advertisements that do not require consent from the council.

The authority said it told Mr Pugh he was in breach of planning controls and he should either remove the advertisement or apply to the council for consent.

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