A Cleckheaton businessman who has been told he can no longer advertise on a giant hoarding board is to move his billboard to a similar site directly across the road.

Gary Heginbottom, who owns Artisan Fireplace Design company, branded as "pathetic" the decision to take down the "eyesore" hoarding, hung at the junction of Tofts Road and Westgate for 50 years.

Following complaints from Kirklees Council, a discontinuance notice was served on him to remove it. He and the board's owner, Mills & Allen, appealed against the decision but it was dismissed by a Government planning inspector.

"The Council decided after 50 years that this is an eyesore," said Mr Heginbottom, who has spent £10,000 advertising on the board over the last three years.

"It wants to clean up the railway bridge and we offered to take the hoarding down while it did that. It said once it was down it would prefer to keep it down and keep the gateway to Cleckheaton unrestricted."

In dismissing the appeal, the planning inspector's report agreed with the Council that the hoarding was an eyesore. Mills & Allen now has to remove the 48-sheet poster panel within the month.

But Mr Heginbottom cannot understand why the hoarding is seen as an eyesore on one side of the road but not on the other.

"It is pathetic. They will have spent Council money on all this unnecessary action and they are going to end up with exactly the same thing in the same position on the opposite side of the road.

"The Council is spending money trying to get it pulled down and at the same time in another department it will agree to a new site for the hoarding opposite."

Kirklees area planning officer Edward Wills said Mr Heginbottom could put his poster on an existing hoarding that had been approved for that use.