McDONALDS has been refused permission for a sign in Baildon advertising a restaurant in a neighbouring town.

The advertisement, directing drivers to the Shipley branch of the fast food giant, was installed on Otley Road without planning permission, and Bradford Council officers have now refused a retrospective application to keep the signage.

They fear that allowing the sign would open the floodgates for businesses to place advertising boards nowhere near where they are based.

And they say "clutter" from such signs spoils the appearance of Otley Road, described as a key route from Leeds and Leeds/Bradford Airport to Shipley and Bradford.

The McDonalds on Tony Miller Approach in Shipley is around half a mile from the advertising sign.

Since the application was submitted, another unauthorised sign has been installed in the same location.

Officers said: "Advance signage that is physically unrelated to the premises being advertised, tends to create visual clutter that mars the approach to settlements.

"Otley Road is a major arterial route through the district connecting Shipley and Baildon with the airport and the outer lying Wharfe Valley.

"There is a concern that if permitted, the signs would set a precedent for allowing other similar signage for other commercial premises which, in turn, would further worsen visual clutter along this important corridor.

"The fact that an unauthorised advertisement for a neighbouring car sales business has recently been fixed to the same sign posts gives weight to this point."