A PETROL station owner’s bid to put up a 23 feet tall advertising sign on the edge of Wellington has been thrown out by a planning inspector.

The Motor Fuel Group (MFG), which runs the Shell filling station on the Westpark 26 business park, in Chelston, wanted to put up a pole sign facing the A38 Wellington by-pass.

It would have advertised electric vehicle (EV) charging points on a site behind the garage, opposite the estate’s McDonald’s restaurant.

The move was opposed by Wellington town councillors who said there were already too many illuminated signs on the site and with more to come.

Councillors said a sign identifying EV charging was not necessary, particularly as there was an app which located charging points.

Somerset Council planning officer Karen Wray turned down the application on the grounds the siting, scale, illumination, and cumulative impact of the sign would add to ‘visual clutter’ and harm the character of the area, causing a distraction for road users resulting in a public safety hazard.

MFG appealed the refusal, saying it wanted to make the public aware of its EV charging facilities, and such signage was expected with a modern service station, and the area did not have any strong sense of local distinctiveness.

The case was heard by Government-appointed planning inspector Philip Staddon, who said there were already two large totem signs on what was a prominent site.

Mr Staddon agreed that adding another sign nearby would result in excessive clutter and ‘visual noise’ which would be harmful to the appearance of the street scene and the character of the local area, and detract from the impression of the area for the travelling public.

However, he did not accept there would be any highway safety hazard or distraction for road users.