Advertisement consent fees and what signage needs consent

Most shop signs need consent, and the advertisement consent fee is a single flat charge per application set by the national fee schedule rather than a figure scaled to the size of the sign. That is the good news for a small business fitting out a unit. The awkward news is that the advertisement regime sits alongside planning permission and listed building consent rather than replacing them, so a shopfront package often needs two or three separate applications with separate fees and separate decisions.

Three categories of advertisement

The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007 divide advertisements into three groups.

Some are outside control altogether, including advertisements displayed inside a building and not visible from outside, and certain advertisements on enclosed land.

Some have deemed consent, meaning the Regulations themselves grant permission subject to conditions and limits. The classes in the Regulations cover things like temporary notices, advertisements on business premises, forecourt signs, flags, hoardings around building sites and signs relating to the premises they are on.

The rest need express consent, applied for to the local planning authority.

The boundary between the second and third groups is where money is saved or lost. A fascia sign of modest size on a shop, with no lighting, is often within a deemed consent class. The same sign internally lit, or projecting above a stated height, or in an area of special control, is frequently outside it.

What the council may consider

The Regulations limit the authority to two considerations: amenity and public safety. That is narrower than the test for a planning application, and it is worth quoting back when an officer raises something else.

Amenity covers the visual effect on the building and the area, including the character of a conservation area and the setting of a listed building. Public safety covers distraction to drivers, obstruction of sightlines, interference with traffic signals and the safety of the structure itself.

What falls outside: the nature of the business, competition with other traders, the wording of the advertisement other than where it affects legibility and safety, and whether local people like the brand.

Express consent is normally granted for five years, after which the advertisement may in some circumstances continue under a deemed consent class. Read the decision notice, because a consent that expires with nothing replacing it leaves an unauthorised display.

The fee for express consent

The express consent fee is a flat amount per application, set by the fees regulations and indexed annually, so check the current schedule rather than a figure quoted in an old guide. Two practical points follow.

First, the fee does not vary with the number of signs. A single application covering a fascia sign, a projecting sign and a window graphic costs the same as an application for one of them. Submit them together.

Second, the fee is separate from any planning application fee. Altering a shopfront, installing a roller shutter, changing windows or forming an opening is development and needs planning permission on its own terms, with its own fee. The advertisement consent deals with the advertisement only.

Lit signs and why lighting changes the answer

Lighting is the single factor most likely to move an illuminated sign from deemed to express consent, and it is also the factor most likely to attract an objection.

Three variables matter to the authority: whether the sign is lit from within or from outside, the luminance of the sign face, and whether it is static or changing. Digital displays with changing images are treated as a different proposition from a static lit fascia, and in sensitive locations they are refused more often than not.

Expect conditions rather than a bare consent. Common ones cap the luminance in candelas per square metre, require dimming after a stated hour, prohibit flashing or intermittent display, and require the lighting to be switched off outside trading hours. Where the sign faces residential windows, a lighting specification will be asked for.

If the display is near a junction or a signalised crossing, the highway authority will be consulted, and the sensible move is to raise it at pre-application stage rather than discover the objection eight weeks in.

Listed buildings and conservation areas

Two separate consents, two separate tests.

On a listed building, works to fix a sign to the fabric affect the building and need listed building consent. The authority applies the statutory duty to have special regard to preserving the building and its features of special architectural or historic interest, which is a higher bar than amenity. Screws into ashlar, trunking across a cornice and a box fascia covering an original stall riser are all refused routinely.

In a conservation area, deemed consent classes are narrowed and the authority weighs the effect on the character and appearance of the area. Traditional solutions carry far better: signwritten timber fascias, individually pin-mounted letters, discreet trough lighting or halo lighting rather than internally lit boxes.

Where heritage is engaged, a Heritage Statement explaining the significance of the building and how the design responds is the document that moves a marginal case. Keep it short and specific to the shopfront. A two page statement addressing the stall riser, the fascia depth and the pilasters beats twenty pages of general history.

Enforcement and discontinuance

Displaying an advertisement without the consent it needs is an offence under the Regulations, with a fine on conviction and, for a continuing display, a further daily amount. In practice councils write first and prosecute rarely, though the offence is the reason a landlord's solicitor will ask about signage consents on a lease assignment.

The authority can also serve a discontinuance notice to require the removal of an advertisement that has deemed consent, where it causes substantial injury to amenity or a danger to the public. There is a right of appeal.

Removing an unauthorised sign and reapplying is usually quicker and less costly than arguing, and the cost comparison for after the event applications generally is covered in our note on the cost of retrospective development. Where a refusal goes to appeal and the authority has behaved unreasonably, the position on awards is set out in our note on appeal costs awards.

Budgeting a shopfront signage package

For a single unit fit-out, expect to price:

1. Survey and design of the shopfront and signage, including elevations at a stated scale.
2. The planning application fee for any physical alterations to the shopfront.
3. The express advertisement consent fee, once, covering all signs in one application.
4. Listed building consent where applicable, which attracts no fee but takes the same eight weeks.
5. A heritage statement where the building is listed or in a conservation area.
6. A lighting specification where signs are lit and face residential property.
7. Manufacture and installation, plus any electrical work and its certification.
8. Contingency for a revised design, because shopfront schemes are amended more often than they are refused.

Allow eight weeks for determination of each application and run them in parallel rather than in sequence. A pre-application conversation with the conservation officer, where one is involved, is the best value hour in the whole exercise.

The sequencing trap: signs manufactured to the design in the lease agreement, before consent is granted, and then refused. Order nothing until the consents are in hand.

If you are assembling the documents for a shopfront scheme, you can see PlanScope pricing for the free report, the per-report option and the Professional tier, and browse the 66 report types to check what a heritage or lighting submission involves.

This is general guidance, not legal advice, so check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.