COLCHESTER Council has ordered shop owners to remove their steel shutters because they are creating a “fortress-like atmosphere”.

Two shops in Crouch Street and Head Street have been ordered to remove their protective shutters within 28-days while one business owner claims to have been told he cannot install shutters after his window was broken by late-night revellers.

Paul Stephens, who runs Two Brews, in Crouch Street, and Srinivas Patlola, who runs NC News, in Head Street, have both been ordered to remove their steel shutters.

In a letter sent to the pair by council planning officers, it states: “Security shutters illustrate the tension that can exist between the need for effective crime prevention measures and the need to maintain or improve the environmental quality of the area.

“The creation of a fortress-like atmosphere can be self-defeating.

“Solid or perforated shutters, when in the closed position, can have an adverse effect by resulting in a ‘dead’ appearance and contributing towards the creation of a hostile atmosphere.

“This in itself can give out signals about the area’s vulnerability to crime and also deter the public from using such locations.”

The letter also states any planning application to retain shutters would be “unlikely” to be approved.

Mr Patlola, who opened his shop about 18-months ago and has recently installed the shutters, said: “Almost every week, we are seeing this [window damage] happening.

“Between the cigars, tobacco, the alcohol and the usual stuff we probably have about £40,000 of stock. How else are we meant to protect that?

“The council isn’t going to do it. Are they going to pay every time we have to repair the window?”

Mr Patlola, who says he has paid more than £2,000 in window repairs since he opened, would not need permission to install ‘self-install’ shutters but he has ruled it out because he does not have enough space to store the kit during the day.

Other ‘mesh’ security shutters, which allow passers-by to still see into a shop, are expensive.

Mr Patlola added: “We are open from 5.30am and close at 9.30pm at night.

“Who is going to be offended by the shutters?”

Sam Richfield, who runs The Vapers Lounge, in Crouch Street, opened his shop and cafe four months ago and has already had to pay almost £300 to repair a broken window after a late-night fight caused it to smash.

He said when he contacted Colchester Council to see how he could protect his business, he was told he was unlikely to get permission to install shutters because Crouch Street is in a conservation area.

Mr Richfield, 24, said: “After my window was smashed in, I contacted the council about getting shutters put in.

“I was told, because we are in a conservation area, I couldn’t have them but I could lodge a planning application at a cost of £190 to find out.

“I’m a new business, I can’t afford to do that on a whim.”

He added: “Surely it’s better to have shops protected so there are no fronts with smashed and broken windows in this conservation area.”

A number of other businesses, including estate agency Temme English, the Hearing Care Centre and Pearl Dry Cleaners, have written to the council urging a softer approach.

A council spokesman said a ‘Shopfront Design Guide’ was agreed in June 2011, which “provides clear advice and direction to shop owners” about acceptable ways to secure their premises which “do not harm the visual appearance of the town centre”.

He added: “A number of security options exist, to suit all budgets, that would meet our expectations of aesthetic quality.

“Covering a shop from top to bottom in a solid metal roller-shutter is a comparatively excessive way to deter people from breaking into premises, compared to, for example, a more open and traditional concertina shutter that still secures a business during closing hours but has a more attractive feel.”