Estate agents who use their boards to sponsor other events could face prosecution if they do not get planning permission.

Maldon District Council has taken the tough stance on what has been described as "a growing problem" in the district.

Mike Cook, development control manager for the council, said estate agents were allowed to put up boards of a certain size in gardens for the sale of the property without permission.

But a situation had now arisen all over the country where they were giving schools sponsorship money to put up boards in properties around the school advertising a forthcoming event.

"The problem was that two thirds of the board had the estate agent's name and one third what the function was. We made a report to the committee suggesting that the function should be more predominant and that would meet the issue halfway.

"But members felt that officers should have the powers to take action to prosecute if they were in contravention of advertising regulations," explained Mr Cook.

Andy Gray of Landmark Estate Agents and Property Consultants, explained they had written to the council seeking clarification on the matter.

" Having seen other estate agents doing it, it was something we thought we would like to be involved in. I wrote to the council seeking clarification as we had received conflicting information on whether it was an advertising board and needed planning consent.

"We did not wish to go outside planning laws."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.