Aberystwyth Town Council has objected to planned signage at the new Iceland store on Ystwyth Retail Park, saying that it “should be bilingual with Welsh first”.

Iceland have taken over the former Peacocks and Poundworld stores on Ystwyth retail park, with the new store set to open on 11 May.

The company has applied to Ceredigion council for associated work to open the store as well as new signage, but town council members have lodged an objection as the signs on the building and retail park signage are only in English as ‘Iceland’.

The town council said it “objects to monolingual signage”, adding all signs “should be bilingual with Welsh first”.

The signage was discussed during a town council meeting on 22 March.

Town mayor Cllr Charlie Kingsbury said: “We should make the point that we expect all signage to be bilingual.”

Cllr Mark Strong added: “We should be firmly stating that Welsh is equal in use to English in this area, and anything that communicates with the public should be bilingual.

“It needs to be strongly, clearly and firmly made to them that we expect all signage that is visible from the outside to be bilingual.”

Cllr Talat Chaudhri said while he agreed with the points made by councillors, he urged the council to approach Iceland in a positive way: “We need to make the point it’s good for their business, because its more inclusive, and were happy to review their signs. We can offer our expertise.”

Councillors also considered a planning application for chilling units to be installed and considered an acoustic consultancy report, created for the chilling unit application, which stated the noise level would be 28 decibels on Stanley Road and 20 on Park Avenue.

Councillors resolved to support this application but asked Iceland to pay for the tree planting “order to soak up the noise pollution they will be creating there”.

Councillors resolved to support the application for signage, but to “strongly, clearly and firmly” express the need for bilingual signage and visual communication.

The supermarket is moving from the Rheidol retail park after Lidl announced plans to expand into the store which is currently next door.

In its objection to Ceredigion planners, Aberystwyth Town Council said: "All visual communication should be bilingual with Welsh first. The Town Council would be happy to provide support to help Iceland achieve this because it is appreciated by the local community and is therefore good for business. Signage should not be internally illuminated."