A SHOP owner has hit out at Colchester Council after geting caught up in red tape just three weeks after he opened a new business in the town.

John Lonergan, who recently opened Andrews TV in a previously derelict shop in the High Street, is angry because he has been told he must take down a light above his shop and removed shutters he installed at a cost of £4,500.

Three weeks after opening, officers visited and told him he must take down the shutters, as it is a listed building and as such requires planning permission.

He was also told to take down the light, which he believes should stay because it has been there for nearly a decade.

“Usually these things can just be left, as they have been there more than four or five years, but I must take it down because they have visited about the shutters too,” said Mr Lonergan.

He said he was astonished to be asked to take down posters put in his windows, as they contravene advertising laws.

Mr Lonergan added he was told other shops were allowed to do it because enforcing the rule was too time-consuming.

He said: “I don’t know why I should be asked to do it just because they have come about the other things.

“I am trying to get a good business going, which has had an excellent response from the public, and I feel the council should be supporting me, not turning up three weeks in to complain.

“The shop was empty for five years, derelict and boarded up with plywood, but apparently that was acceptable.

“But I have put up a security shutter and they have come down on me straight away.”

Vincent Pearce, head of planning at Colchester Council, said Mr Lonergan would have a “reasonable chance” of getting retrospective approval for the shutters but said the issue over the light was that it was for an illuminated sign.

He said: “He needs permission for the sign because it is on a listed building.

“We are not here to obstruct small businesses, but we are here to protect listed buildings.”

Mr Pearce added the posters did contravene advertising laws.

“Because of them being on view, technically they require advertising consent, but so many shops do, we would need to give consent for them all and that is very long-winded and time consuming,” he said.