A PROPERTY developer has been fined £5,400 and ordered to pay £1,190 costs for illegally fly posting on lampposts in Bolton.

Bolton Council brought the case against Barratt Manchester Ltd which trades as Barratt Homes.

The company pleaded guilty to nine offences of displaying unlawful advertisements during a hearing at Bolton Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The developer was fined £600 for each offence under Section 224 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

The court heard that a council highways enforcement officer had written to the company last June, asking them to remove the adverts which had been displayed on lampposts in four locations in Bolton without permission. The company was given 48 hours to remove the signs but failed to comply. The signs were removed by the highways officer.

Cllr Ismail Ibrahim, executive member for environmental services, said: “We want to support businesses as much as possible but this is not how we expect developers to promote their schemes. It’s our first prosecution under this legislation against a developer for this type of offence and it should serve as a warning as to what we regard as being unacceptable. Property developers must follow the appropriate procedure to get planning consent to display signs of this nature.”