February 26, 2018 8.14 pm This story is over 73 months old

Council moves ahead to ban To Let boards in some areas of Lincoln

Five areas are targeted by the council ban.
Photo Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Council chiefs will seek to ban To Let boards in certain areas of Lincoln.

The City of Lincoln Council executive committee voted on Monday night to seek approval from the Secretary of State to ban the boards which have been described as “eyesores”.

The plan is to ban the boards on Monks Road, Union Road, Waterloo Street and the West End and Sincil Bank areas.

The council will apply for a regulation 7 order under the Town and Country Planning Regulations 2007 to seek a ban the boards.

Councillor Ric Metcalfe, leader of City of Lincoln Council, said the idea came after concerns from residents.

“For many years we have had representations from residents in a number of our city centre areas about owners of properties leaving To Let boards up on a permanent basis,” he said.

“If you get a whole street full of To Let boards it just creates completely the wrong feel of an area, it makes it look as though there is constant churn of people coming and going, when often that may not be the case.

“It may be that those To Let boards have been left up as a means of free advertising for the owners of those properties, so we’re taking the view that we ought to discourage wherever and whenever we can the display of large numbers of these To Let boards.”

Councillor Metcalfe added that he did not think the move was a “severe step” and that it would help improve the street scene in some areas.

However, estate agents have previously said they are unconvinced by the council’s proposal.

Hymie Bentley, associate partner at Mundys estate agents, said that focusing on the time some boards are kept up in the city might be a better solution.

He said: “We use To Let boards to make sure a property is easily identifiable. A straight ban is perhaps not the best course of action.

“The council should perhaps focus on the length of time some of the boards are up and whether that is reasonable or not. They don’t need to be up when a property is occupied.

“We use To Let boards as part of our overall marketing strategy when a property is available.

“It’s marked as To Let when there’s a change in status and when tenancy commences, the board is removed.”