IT’S A LIDL too much – according to Dorset Council.

The verdict on the Portland Lidl store’s roadside advertising billboard just off the Hamm Roundabout.

The supermarket chain has been refused consent for a large freestanding billboard at its beach road store, Portland.

Dorset Council planning officers decided that the 4.75m tall and 6.3metre wide sign, which had been put up without consent on four posts facing Portland Road, is out of place and visually intrusive, especially so close to the Chesil beach.

The billboard site faces onto the Hamm roundabout with the advertising displays on it frequently changed depending on what the store is promoting at the time.

A council planning officer, reviewing the case for a retrospective planning application from the supermarket chain said that the billboard was too big and intrusive in a sensitive landscape and coastal location.

In a decision notice, issued by Dorset Council’s head of planning, Mike Garrity it says the sign is: “an incongruous and poor-quality advertisement that detracts from the more pleasant built and natural environment that surrounds it.

"As such it detracts from the amenity of the area and causes harm to the visual quality of the area appearing visually intrusive adjacent to the UNESCO World Heritage Site and the wider design quality of the built and natural environment character and appearance of the area.”

Dorset Council Highway officers had offered no objection to the sign which they said, in road safety terms, was adequately set back from the main road. The report from the department said that provided the sign was not moving and was either un-lit, or safely lit, to not distract drivers they would raise no objection.

Portland town council also raised no objection to the sign and said it supported Lidl’s retrospective application.

What happens now?

Dorset Council’s policy is usually to try and find a negotiated solution to what it decides are breaches, or omissions of consent.

That will mean the council and Lidl talking about what size and design of sign might be acceptable at the location, if any sign is to be considered acceptable.

Lidl also have the right to appeal the refusal of consent, which will involve making a case to the Planning Inspectorate for a review of the decision.

Ultimately the council can take enforcement action to get the sign taken down, should all other courses of action fail.

In all probability it is likely to stay exactly as it is, where it is, for many months to come.