Derbyshire council won't let artist sign mural over 'unlawful advertising fears'

The fantastic Kingfisher mural on the side of Stephanie Walsh’s house in Belper was painted by Sarah Yates and has been partly crowd-funded.

Sarah, whose previous work includes painting the peregrines at the Museum of Making, in Derby, said: “We’d been speaking since February, I think, so I had started the design and was meant to be painting it in April but over a month or two we liaised about the design and discussed a few options. In all it probably took two, three days if you’re compressing all the time together.

"I was working (on painting) for eight days but three of them were putting the base coat on because the wall texture was pebble dash.

"The biggest challenges (painting on walls) is usually all connected with time and the weather. If I know it’s going to rain and lose me half a day then I have to sometimes strategically work out in what order I’m going to paint each section.”

And whilst a planning application wasn’t required for the painting itself, Sarah says a separate application has had to be submitted to determine whether she can sign the artwork.

With the massive mural being the first of its kind in the area the Borough Council supposedly unsure of whether signing the work would constitute ‘unlawful advertising’.

The Derbyshire Times has asked Amber Valley Borough Council for comment on the story.