A PUB company has appeared in court for illegally displaying advertising boards.

The case against the Blacksmiths Arms, at Biggin, was brought by Selby District Council’s planning enforcement team after advertising boards were placed along Finkle Street and Bishopdyke Road, in Sherburn-in-Elmet.

But the company, The Blacksmiths Arms (Biggin) Ltd, did not have planning permission.

Kelly Hamblin, prosecuting on behalf of Selby District Council, told justices at Selby Magistrates’ Court the situation had been going on for almost a year. She said that despite numerous requests to take down the advertisements, they remained in place.

In mitigation, a representative from the company, which pleaded guilty, explained that the advertisements had been put up because of difficult trading conditions, but would now be removed.

The company was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £200 in court costs.

Speaking after the case, Keith Dawson, the council’s head of development services, said: “We don’t want to be unreasonable when a small business wants to advertise itself, but this is about the impact these adverts had on the local area. “We’ve been in contact with the company on numerous occasions over recent months to try to come to a suitable solution and, indeed, there are ways and means of getting the right permission to display advertising where this is appropriate. “But no application was made to get permission for these adverts so we were left with little choice.

“The regulations are in place to protect the local environment from inappropriate development, and that’s what we had to bear in mind when considering whether to pursue this case.”