Definition of “advertisement” for purpose of advertising control provisions of Town and Country Planning Act 1990 — No requirement of tangibility — Display of searchlights — Whether definition including such display — Whether display a “sign” for purpose of definition
Operators of amusement centres in Great Yarmouth and Newport had in each case installed on the roofs of their premises “spaceflower” lighting apparatus, from which beams of light projected skywards to produce a floral image at the base of any cloud cover which happened to be present. Following objections from their respective planning authorities, who purported to exercise the powers of advertisement control conferred by Chapter III of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and regulations made thereunder, each operator appealed to the relevant Secretary of State. Ruling in favour of the operators, each minister gave very similar reasons for deciding that the operation in question did not amount to the displaying of an “advertisement” within the meaning of the 1990 Act.
The present appeal, brought by the planning authorities under section 288 of the Act, called for a minute examination of section 336(1), which defines “advertisement” as “any word, letter, model, sign, placard, board, notice, device or representation, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of, and employed wholly for the purposes of, advertisement or direction …”.
Held The decisions of the Secretaries of State were quashed.
1. While the ministers had correctly directed their attention to the beams, as distinct from the apparatus and the ultimate image, they were wrong in proceeding from the premise that an advertisement had to be tangible: thus there was nothing in the definition to exclude a display by means of a hologram.
2. Although the beams could not be described as a “representation”, they were clearly intended to direct members of the public to the premises and accordingly could be described as a “sign” as used for example in the expression “signpost” and, the judge observed, in the biblical account of the celestial sign which appears in the nativity story. On the assumption that “sign” was intended to provide shade of meaning not present in “placard, board, notice”, there was no case for limiting that expression to signs of the kind carried by shops and public houses.
Murziline Parchment (instructed by the solicitor to Great Yarmouth Borough Council) appeared for Great Yarmouth; Ann Williams (instructed by the solicitor to Newport Borough Council) appeared for Newport; Alun Alesbury (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared for the respondent Secretaries of State.