‘Garish’ signs on a Dorchester tanning studio should be turned down by planners, according to town councillors.

They have decided to object for the second time to a retrospective permission for the signs on the Great Western Road building which used to be occupied by a cat welfare charity shop.

“They are very garish in a nice residential area,” complained Cllr Les Fry.

He has called for the decision, for illuminated and normal signs, to be decided by councillors on a planning committee, rather than a council planning official.

At a previous committee councillors decided they were concerned by any illuminated signs in a conservation areas and, in particular by lit signs for the tanning studio which shone out on the Walks, the line of the previous Roman defences, a scheduled ancient monument.