Angus Council may be drawn in to a legal battle as the first salvo was fired in a burger war on the A90.
KFC’s towering sign over the A90 dual carriageway by Forfar has landed it in trouble with a government body with McDonald’s and Angus Council also embroiled in the row.
KFC opened at Orchardbank last year and applied for retrospective planning permission for a large “totem” sign.
But Transport Scotland (TS) has asked Angus Council to order the sign be taken down criticising the firm for “jumping the gun”. The agency is concerned the sign may distract drivers.
While apologising, KFC’s agents have drawn McDonald’s into the row.
And it has emerged the sign was legally guaranteed by the local authority at a time it was desperate to sell off land at the half-empty Orchardbank business park.
TS agent Fred Abercrombie told the council that the “remote totem sign, adjacent to the trunk road, is to be omitted from the scheme to minimise the distraction to drivers on the trunk road”.
Herbel Restaurants (Eastern) applied for planning permission through Burns Design for advertisements including the controversial roadside pylon sign.
But having seen drawings of where the sign already sits, Transport Scotland revised earlier intentions not to intervene in the planning process.
In a letter to planner David Gray at Angus Council, director of Burns Interior Design Ltd Paul McLaughlin apologised for the haste of development.
He states: “My client would like to apologise for ‘jumping the gun’, but they thought it necessary to erect the signage at a risk to gain as much visibility early on as possible to ensure the success of the business.
“It has been stated that the sign has been objected to by Transport Scotland as being a potential risk to road safety. “Can we ask why the McDonald’s sign which is considerably closer to the main carriageway is not perceived as a road safety risk?
“Also is it not safer to give an early indication of the site to allow motorists to make a timely judgement to pull off the carriageway instead of them perhaps noticing the site at the last minute, making a last minute decision and braking suddenly to veer off the main carriageway?
“Would this not pose a greater risk to road traffic safety?”
McDonald’s were approached to give their position as the adjacent restaurant at Berrymoss Lane.
A spokesman said: “It would not be appropriate for McDonald’s to comment on this planning permission application.
“This is clearly a matter for the agent and local authority.”
A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: “Transport Scotland do not support advertisements where they would cause a distraction to road users, especially at locations where driver attention should be focused on the road such as at junctions.
“The KFC totem is remote from the KFC restaurant and when drivers see it will need to look elsewhere to find the restaurant at a time when they are approaching a junction and should be concentrating on slow moving traffic leaving and entering the trunk road.
“The McDonalds sign is sited so that it is not clearly visible until both the sign and the restaurant are in sight.”
It also emerged a legal agreement was sought by operator Herbel Restaurants from Angus Council, guaranteeing “rights to position a totem sign remote from their site in the location noted on our plans.”
And Herbel may approach the council for the breach of the purchase agreement and seek compensation.
Mr McLaughlin adds: “They ask that you request Transport Scotland to provide detailed reasons and technical demonstration why the sign is a risk to road safety and McDonald’s signage is not.”
An Angus Council spokesman said: “Any signage on or away from the KFC site requires planning consent, and a retrospective application has been submitted by the developer.
“The council’s development standards committee will consider the application at its meeting on 28 January.”