Councillors have voted unanimously to approve changes to the way businesses are allowed to use A-boards.

Bath and North East Somerset Council is to adopt a new policy setting out ways in which traders can use street advertising boards. The move aims to make it safer for pedestrians, especially disabled people, who have complained they are both unsightly and also a potential hazard.

The guidelines specify that only one A-board is allowed per property and that at least 1.5-metre of pathway must be left free for pedestrians.

At a council cabinet meeting Robin Kerr, from the Federation of Bath Residents' Associations, said: "A-boards have no place in Britain's only World Heritage City. Most other historic towns forbid them, so why shouldn't we."

Councillor David Dixon, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said the new guidelines were a compromise, with businesses seeing them as a vital tool in their trade.