There have been signs of discontent over advertising for a set of new luxury homes in Ponteland.
Lugano Group has obtained planning permission for executive detached dwellings on Runnymede Road in Darras Hall and it then put in an application for a decked viewing platform and the erection of perimeter hoarding at 2.8m in height at the entrance to the site to make people aware that the properties are available.
And the platform, frame and some of the hoarding are already in place, so if permission is granted it would be, in essence, retrospective.
The adverts would be illuminated by soft glow lighting via a trough erected on the upper edge.
In its application letter, Lugano says the structure will likely be required for an initial period of one year. However, it has requested that consent be granted for two years to allow for the vagaries of the current housing market.
Objections have been put forward by neighbouring residents and Ponteland Civic Society. In its letter to the county council, the society says: “It is felt that such a construction is entirely out of place on Runnymede Road, out of scale and out of character, and would constitute a significant loss of amenity.
“Pedestrian movement along this distributor is limited and insufficient to require the need of a viewing platform. It would be positioned on the side of the road that is without a footpath and this in itself could prove hazardous.
“Illuminated at night, it would have the potential to provide a platform for unsocial behaviour and would act as a distraction to drivers at the adjoining crossroads where sight lines are sub-standard.”