A GARISH sign on a York shop has finally come down - heralding a new "get-tough" approach by council officers to planning breaches.

The frontage of the "Shoe Carnival" shop in Pavement was last year branded a "tacky monstrosity" that would not look out of place on Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

The revamped Ball's Shoes shop, situated in a listed building, had replaced a reserved colour scheme with dazzling reds, greens and yellows, and two large dancing circus clowns were placed over the colourful shop sign.

City of York Council said then that it was writing to ask the owners to remove the frontage, and that it would take enforcement action if they failed to comply.

But the sign has only just been removed, along with a re-painting of the shop exterior in less striking colours.

Jonathan Carr, area development control officer with the authority, said the sign's removal had followed a threat of prosecution for the owners.

He also revealed that the council had recently taken on extra staff to ensure that a range of developments without planning permission across the city were actively pursued, including unauthorised and inappropriate signs.

He said: "We have a number of new enforcement officers to ensure that we pursue breaches proactively and with greater urgency," he said.

In the case of Shoe Carnival, the exterior had been painted in a more moderate cream colour and the multi-coloured sign was to be replaced by more sober lettering.

Breaches that would be pursued by the council would include changes made to listed buildings which were out of character, for which listed building consent was required.

But other issues across the city would also be tackled by the enforcement officers, such as the unauthorised running of car repair businesses from residential properties.

He said that serious breaches could result in prosecution and fines running into thousands of pounds.

Geoff Ainsworth, of Ball's Shoes, said: "The council didn't like the sign, so we decided to take it down and put up something they may appreciate more." He added that he understood the shop would be reverting to its old name of Ball's Shoes.

Updated: 15:05 Tuesday, September 24, 2002