Trouble on menu over restaurant signs in listed area

Tapas restaurant and bar Platillos is set to be forced to remove two bright green, illuminated signs that face into the Grade Two-listed Leopold Square.

At a planning committee meeting next Monday, officers from Sheffield Council will advise councillors that a plaque, menu box and vinyl signage outside the restaurant can remain, but the large green signs should be removed.

If the owners don't take them down, the council's director of legal services will be authorised to take "all necessary steps, including enforcement action and the institution of legal proceedings" to ensure the signs are removed.

The row comes after Platillos applied to the council for retrospective advertising consent and listed building consent for its signage.

In a report set to go before next week's planning committee meeting, planning officers say that the signs on businesses in Leopold Square, which is Grade Two listed and falls within the city centre conservation area, should take a "co-ordinated approach".

The officers say: "An ad-hoc approach will unquestionably have a

negative impact on the character of the listed buildings and the conservation area.

"Building-mounted signage should ideally be a tinted bronze metal finish and spaced off the building's fabric using bronze metal horizontal bars.

"As well as achieving a consistent concept, the horizontal bars also ensure that once in place future operators can reuse the fixings, in order to limit the damage to the stonework of the listed structure."

The planners say that the signage chosen by Platillos is "much too large", detracts from the architecture of an adjacent archway and "should be scaled back".

The report adds: "Officers have been in dialogue with the applicant on several occasions to try to resolve the above matters.

"It is considered that, owing to their design, scale, siting and illuminated nature, the two building mounted signs have an unacceptably detrimental impact on the Grade Two listed buildings and this part of the city centre conservation area.

"Leopold Square is one of the city's highest-quality developments and it is considered that well designed signage is critical to maintaining that quality."

Meanwhile, the owner of a restaurant and takeaway on The Wicker is set to be forced to remove tile cladding put up on the front of the premises after planners said it was of a "very poor quality and completely unacceptable".

The retrospective planning application for the Manu Salwa restaurant was set to be considered in September last year, but was deferred after planning officers entered into negotiations with the owners.

However, planners say that they have been "unable to reach a conclusion" and there has been "no genuine commitment shown to

undertake the works".

The application will be examined at Monday's planning committee

meeting, and officers have again advised elected members to insist that the tiles are removed.

In a report to the committee, officers say: "This site has been the subject of enforcement proceedings for nearly two years now. The changes have obliterated the original attractive brickwork and the first-floor window proportions and are considered to be completely detrimental to the character of the building and the wider character and appearance of Wicker.

"Furthermore, the poor workmanship has resulted in the tiles already starting to fall off the face of the building, compounding the poor visual appearance and causing a hazard to pedestrians."

Monday's meeting of Sheffield Council's city centre, south and east planning board is set to take place at 2pm at Sheffield Town Hall.

Neither Platillos nor Manu Salwa were available for comment.