A SENIOR planning officer has backed Todmorden development committee, who called for people responsible for flyposting on empty property to be prosecuted.

The councillors have called for action after illegal advertisements were stuck up in empty shops, and Jim Metcalfe, the chief planning officer for Calderdale, has echoed their views.

He says in a letter to the clerk of Todmorden Town Council, Catherine Emberson: "The incidence of flyposting in Calderdale is a matter that Calderdale MBC is concerned about. It can make individual properties very unattractive, and also creates an air of dereliction in the borough's town centres."

He says that following Todmorden Council's complaint about 24-38 Rochdale Road, the owners have been approached and asked to remove the illegally displayed posters.

Mr Metcalfe warns that flyposting is illegal and constitutes an offence which carries a maximum penalty of £1,000 concerning each poster.

He warns that the person who actually erects the poster can be prosecuted, as can the owner or occupier, including premises on which posters were displayed and also liable is a person whose goods, trade or business or other concern is given publicity.