A crackdown is being launched against garish shopfronts turning a historic high street into a “second-class Las Vegas”.

Council bosses are set to order dozens of businesses across the Canterbury district to remove “overbearing” signs, lights and paintwork that do not comply with authority policies.

This comes amid fears many listed and historically-significant buildings have been altered without official approval, which is a criminal offence.

During a city council meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Nick Eden-Green told colleagues the scourge is “getting worse by the day” in the city centre.

“People are just completely taking the mickey,” the Liberal Democrat said.

“We’ve got to do something about it urgently, because it’s frankly like a second-class Las Vegas in Canterbury now.”

Councillors were debating whether to give Superdrug the green light to replace its current sign with a larger one - which campaigners fear will “completely spoil” the Grade II-listed site in St George’s Street.

Tankerton Tory Neil Baker revealed he has been told “this building was not on the list to be cracked down upon”.

Instead the Conservative councillor hinted sites like the High Street branch of iCrash should be reprimanded for its signage.

“Buildings that project apes smoking cannabis onto the pavement probably were [on the list],” he told the meeting, referring to the phone-repair shop.

“Once Canterbury has had its crackdown it will hopefully then be rolled out to other parts of the district which are suffering as well.”

Kabil Singh, who manages iCrash as well as iRepair in St George’s Street, says he is keen to work with the council to resolve any concerns - but is calling on Canterbury City Council to offer more support.

Referring to the sign, he said: “A lot of shops have signs like that. I don’t think they make the high street look bad, because there are a lot of stores - there’s Third Eye and another vape shop. And there is a chicken shop called Smokey’s.

“Businesses are struggling. We’ve come out from coronavirus, there’s a war between Ukraine and Russia - it’s impacted all businesses.

“They have to support the businesses, not destroy the businesses. They’re constantly charging us business rates for this place. Now for months, they’re closing the high street [for redevelopment works].

“You can see [the construction] in front of the shop. We can’t survive.”

Shoppers in the high street yesterday shared the concerns of councillors.

Marcus, 18, who would only give his first name, said: "I always thought that those shops were rather garish and they all seem to have similar names – it’s all rather weird.

"The lights on the high street are definitely a bit too far.

"We’re in the centre of town so the jurisdiction has to apply – especially with listed buildings.

"If you just left it to the shopkeepers, then Canterbury’s high street wouldn’t look like Canterbury’s high street."

Mary Anderson, from Canterbury, said garish shopfronts "seem to be becoming more numerous".

"Canterbury is a historic place, and it would be nice to keep everything in keeping with that..."

"I think it is very important to maintain the character of the town," she said.

Natasha, 42, from Folkestone, says councils should be fair to businesses.

"Canterbury is a historic place, and it would be nice to keep everything in keeping with that," she said.

"But at the same time, businesses have to make money and it’s a bit unfair to enforce things on them when they’ve potentially got to put up money to spend to change them.

"There are a lot of vape shops - maybe we should just cut back on those types of shops."

Council officials say teams will order more than 30 retailers to remove or replace inappropriate signage, lights – especially those that flash – and paintwork that do not accord with the council’s shopfront design policies.

They say the aim is to ensure the district’s town centres “remain healthy and vibrant and are places people want to visit”.

Authority chiefs believe this is particularly important in Canterbury, which has World Heritage Site status.

The council’s enforcement boss, Cllr Ashley Clark, said: “The district’s history and heritage are the jewels in its crown, and we need to move heaven and earth to protect it.

“We know businesses are facing a multitude of challenges, but it is vital we preserve the character of the areas that we love – our residents and visitors demand nothing less. That is why we have invested in the planners and lawyers we need to make sure people follow the rules.”

Business owners will be given the opportunity to put transgressions right before more robust action is taken, with any penalty depending on the changes and type of building.

Altering a listed building without permission is a criminal offence which can lead to a fine or even jail-time.

During the meeting on Tuesday, councillors gave Superdrug’s shopfront bid the green light.

The local authority’s planning officers recommended the scheme for approval, arguing the new sign would be in-keeping with the rest of the high street.

But members of the Canterbury Heritage and Design Forum branded drawings attached to the application ugly.

“This is becoming a drip-drip deterioration of standards...”

Speaking on behalf of the group, Amanda Sparkes said: “When Superdrug first took the shop, they respected the signage of the original building.

“Since then, this respect has been lost and the current scheme is miserable.

“The huge green pharmacy sign on the right-hand side is particularly ugly.

“This is becoming a drip-drip deterioration of standards.”

Former architect and group member Clive Bowley believes the plan will “completely spoil” the nature of the building, which is the only Grade II-listed post-war shop building in the UK.

“It comes from an ignorance of understanding of what the building’s all about,” he said.

“Obviously shops have got to move with the times and new owners do new things, but when you’ve got a building that’s listed you need to respect its underlying architectural character.”

The Superdrug site was originally built for David Greig, the butchers and general provision store, in 1954.

Designed by Robert Paine & Partners, it was described as a "monstrosity" at the time by Archbishop Dr Geoffrey Fisher.

But three years later it won a Royal Institute of British Architects bronze award.

It was Grade II-listed by English Heritage in 1995 - and was then taken over by Superdrug.

Additional reporting by James Pallant