UPDATE: 28 August 2014 – At long last the Merry Christmas sign has now gone

I’ve raised concerns about the “Merry Christmas” sign on the front of the Old Post Office at the end of The Square. See the story in the Journal here.

Although I think it’s admirable that SMTC have bought a number of Christmas decorations, they shouldn’t be up all the year round! It gives visitors to the town a very bad impression.

SMTC have been asked by the District Council to either remove the sign, or apply for planning permission and listed building consent. So far SMTC have done neither of these things . . .

There are other Christmas signs in South Street and they shouldn’t be up all the year round either.

NB A ‘listed building’ is a building that has been judged to be of national importance in terms of architectural or historic interest and is included on a special register by English Heritage. Any works on a listed building need special permission.

Update: English Heritage are no longer responsible for listing buildings and maintaining the register of listed buildings. This work is now done by a body called Historic England which can be found here.