Unauthorised banner stunt lands PR boss with £1,500 fine

7:37am Thursday 26th June 2008

By Matt Smith

HIGH-profile Southampton PR man Lee Peck has been fined £1,500 after a rival firm reported him to the council for draping a huge unauthorised advertising banner on his former company offices, writes Matt Smith.

The city council hauled Mr Peck before the courts after he put up a banner to promote the P&O superliner Ventura without planning permission - just months after a bid for a five-year temporary consent was thrown out by councillors.

They ruled that a 17 metre by 6 metre high banner on his two-storey offices at Chilworth Point was too dominant and posed a risk to highway safety.

Representing himself Mr Peck, as the major shareholder and chairman of Leepeckgreenfield, told magistrates he thought he could put up the banner because he had lodged an appeal.

Mr Peck, who pleaded guilty to a breach of planning rules, blamed an office junior for failing to send an email to the council, and said he had accepted incorrect advice from her husband, who worked as a planner with Basingstoke council.

He said: "I would like to apologise for taking the court's valuable time. I would like to apologise to Southampton City Council who over the years I have had a very good working relationship with.

"I did my very best to abide by the letter of the law and the spirit of the law."

Southampton Magistrates' Court heard Mr Peck had been warned twice by the council for putting up banners - for the naming ceremony of the Arcadia cruise ship in April 2005 and to promote Southampton Boat Show last year.

Mr Peck, who boasts a career in journalism, public relations, advertising and training spanning two-and-a-half decades, said there had only been two complaints, and one was from a competitor whom he refused to name.

He pledged there would be no "further transgressions", as his firm had now moved to the city centre.

He said: "I'm sorry the council felt they should take this action but I do believe it's more a misunderstanding than a fragrant breach of the law."

Turning to the fine, he pleaded with magistrates: "There is a credit crunch on. It's tough right now. I would ask you not to be punitive."

Magistrates fined him £1,500, with £150 costs. The maximum penalty available was £2,500.

Mr Peck last week moved to new officers in Carlton Crescent and renamed the business Leepeckgroup after buying out his long-term business partner Stuart Greenfield.