A NATIONAL retailer which put up oversized signs without planning permission has had to go back to the drawing board.

Homewares chain Wilkinson hopes a new plan to install smaller signs at its city centre shop will win planners' approval.

The retailer landed itself in hot water with Bradford Council planners earlier this year, after putting up six modern-looking signs at its Rawson Quarter store.

The red and white signs - five of which were lit from the inside - were part of a national overhaul by Wilkinson to rebrand itself as 'Wilko'.

But the ornate stone building lies in the city centre conservation area, where extra-strict planning rules apply.

Wilkinson applied for permission for the signs retrospectively, but this was turned down.

Refusing the application in March, planners criticised the "excessive depth, modern appearance and means of illumination" of the signs, saying they were an "unbalanced and unsympathetic feature on this prominent building".

Officers were most concerned about two large signs placed either side of a distinctive stone archway feature on the shop's Godwin Street frontage.

The retailer then lodged an appeal with the Government's planning inspectorate, but lost.

Planning inspector Helen Heward agreed with Bradford's planning team that the signs were "unduly prominent" and significantly larger than other nearby shop signs.

She said: "Overall the signs would be unsympathetic and detract from the character and appearance of the building and this part of the Bradford city centre conservation area."

Now Wilkinson has sent in new plans showing slimmer designs for the shopfront signs.

The signs either side of the stone archway, for example, have had their height reduced by more than half, from 120cm to 57cm.

But five of the signs are still illuminated from the inside, and the modern red-and-white design remains.

No-one from Wilkinson was available to comment last night.

Planners are set to make a decision on the application in the coming months.