Shannon Johnstone asks Unio Goldsmith and Gallery owner Bruce Jackson why Hastings District Council wants the sign outside his shop removed. Video Warren Buckland.
A Havelock North jeweller says a request from Hastings District Council to remove his footpath signage is "just stupid".
Bruce Jackson, owner of Unio Goldsmith & Gallery on Napier Road, said a council employee visited the store on Tuesday to say it had received a complaint about the sign, andthat it didn't fit the council's guidelines.
The company was told signs need to be moveable and flexible to prevent injury from walking into them.
The sign, which has stood in place or 15 years, was designed and made by a sculptor and has sat attached to a pole outside the store since the business started.
Jackson said he was told that he would need to remove it and replace it with a moveable plastic sign which would sit on the footpath directly outside the store.
Unio Goldsmith & Gallery in Havelock North have been asked by the council to remove their shop sign after a complaint was received. Photo / Warren Buckland
"This [existing] sign represents what this business is about. We are a small, artisan, unique manufacturer, jeweller and gallery and that represents what we are, a plastic sign doesn't."
A plastic sign would blow away and take up more room on the pavement he said.
Council group manager planning and regulatory services, John O'Shaughnessy, said the matter relates to bylaw regarding advertising.
He said the bylaw stated the owner of an advertisement in a public place must at all times ensure the placement of the advertising does not interfere with the free and safe passage of people and vehicles using the public place.
O'Shaughnessy said council received a complaint about the sign to their call centre. "The council is now considering the matter and will follow it up."
Jackson said since the shop opened he had never seen anyone walk into the sign and people tend to walk down the middle of the footpath away from it.
"My argument against this is that there are hundreds of other fixed pieces around, the very post that it's hanging on could be walked into and will not bend. What's the difference between my sign and the pole it's hanging on? The rubbish bin is nice and solid, that's going to hurt when you walk into it.
"I'm a small business and I think it's just stupid that Hastings District Council has come out here and is post-Covid making my life difficult."
He estimates the current sign cost about $700.
He said support from friends and other shop owners had been "overwhelmingly" in his favour.
"Other shop owners find the whole situation hugely amusing."
He's waiting to hear back from the council before deciding his next move.
