A GOVERNMENT planning inspector has ruled that a supermarket can erect a brightly-coloured totem pole-style sign at its entrance, despite councillors saying it would spoil the look of a nearby conservation area.

Asda said it was pleased Hambleton District Council's decision to reject its plan to replace its hanging sign with a larger 5m-high sign outside its store on Brompton Road, Northallerton, had been overruled.

The authority had dimissed calls from the supermarket that it should be allowed to install two banner signs and a totem sign to highlight the store's location to customers as the former garage workshop premises was not easily seen from the road.

Making its decision in July, the council said it was considered the size, materials, appearance and position of the proposed signs would mean the introduction of "prominent and inappropriate features that would not respect the character of the area".

Inspector Faroog Rafiq dismissed Asda's appeal over the banner signs, but said given the backdrop of the sizable commercial buildings on the eastern side of Brompton Road, he considered this would moderate the totem sign's overall impact.

He said while other supermarkets in the town had banner signs, this did not set a precedent and each application was considered on its own merits.