The owners of Cwmbran Leisure, the home of businesses including Simply Gym, Vue Cinema and Hollywood Bowl, have been refused planning permission to fit eight new signs on their building. Torfaen Council said the “siting, positioning, and scale” of the signs would give a “cluttered appearance” to the building and town centre.
The building was built in 2008 and called Leisure @ Cwmbran before being rebranded as Cwmbran Leisure following a successful planning application for new signs in September 2020.
An application was submitted to Torfaen Council for “replacement of the remaining signs and new signage to complete the rebranding of the building, as well as replacement tenant signage for one of the units”. The business asked to:
- Replace the former “Cwmbran” sign on the South elevation with a sign to match the existing rebranded signage approved in 2020
- Fit a sign following the design of the rebranded signage scheme to the East Elevation
- Fit new signage panels to the corner columns to the West and South Elevations
- Fit a new tenant sign to replace existing signage for Tiffins Indian Buffet
The letter refusing the application said: “By means of the number, their siting, positioning, and scale, the proposed signage will result in an unacceptable proliferation of advertisements on the building in a prominent location resulting in a cluttered appearance, detrimental to the visual amenity of the site and wider town centre.”
In the report a council officer said that the proposed sign for Tiffins was considered “acceptable” and the council would be “minded to grant advertisement consent in a separate application.” The report also advised the applicant that if the number of signs was reduced this may “overcome the reason for refusal” if another application was made.
