Bit of Frankie fun or ‘humongus eyesore’?
Frankie, to lift people's spirits during the pandemic.
But one resident has slammed it as an "absolutely humongous eyesore" and the business must now apply for permission from Sunderland Council by September 3 or the mural could be painted over.
The owner, who does not wanttobenamed,said:"Wesecuredthecoronavirusgrantoff the Government and thought we would tidy the shop up.
"But we had some money leftover,soIthoughtwewould putsomethingonthesidetoget peopletocomebacktotheshop . As soon as we did it in May there were loads of photos on Facebook,peoplewalkingpast with pushchairs looking at it showing the kids - everything seemed fine."
However,noteveryonewas happy with the mural.
A neighbour, who has lived on Durham Road for the past 13years,said:"Itisanabsolutely humongous eyesore, it just brings down the whole area.
"We haven't been asked about it and we haven't been abletogivethesalonourviews, it just went up in one afternoon."
Under Town and Country Planning Regulations, any design resembling an advert must be less than 0.75 metres in height, or planning permission is required.
The salon owner said: I will goaroundthedoorsandgetmy customers to sign a petition if it comes to it. I will put posters up saying #SaveFrankie on the windows. We've had so much positivefeedbackonsocialmediae did it for the customers coming back when they would line up outside the salon and it was great."
Councillor Rebecca Atkinson, Cabinet Member for Dynamic City at Sunderland City Council said: "On inspection it wasdeterminedtobeanadvertisement, requiring advertisementconsentfromthecouncil as local planning authority.
"The proprietor of the business was invited to apply for consent in July as this was deemed the most appropriate test of its acceptability."