A VEGAN mural advert is to be removed after it was discovered no permission had been granted for it.

The advert was painted for vegan company Oatly on a wall at the corner of Church Street and Gardner Street in Brighton.

It is the second advert to be painted on the Gelato Gusto wall, which previously had a tribute to Albion captain Bruno.

Brighton and Hove City Council is demanding the “go ahead, eat like a vegan” mural be removed by December 16.

This comes after a gin advert for Bombay Sapphire was removed from the same space earlier this year.

When Oatly was confronted by local campaigners Brighton Society, a spokesman for the company tweeted: “This space has been used for numerous commercial designs before and standard procedures were followed when the mural was erected.

“Our aim was to show all icecream lovers that there’s now a sustainable oat-based ice cream available.” The company later added: “Permission’s been granted from the landlord.

“It is not standard practice or industry-wide precedent for the local council to provide consent for branded murals.

“However, in order to follow due diligence, prior to painting the design our specialist out of home supplier applied to Brighton and Hove City Council via its planning portal.

“Further to the application being received, the supplier also had a verbal conversation with a representative from the council’s planning department.

“At no point were any concerns or objections raised.

“We took a recommendation from our supplier that this was the standard and correct process, but we welcome the council and industry to review and clarify the process.

“The current mural will be removed on December 16 and we will re-look at our out of home processes for future campaigns.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: “No permission was given for this mural to be put up. It is due to be removed on December 16.

“We’ll visit the property again after this date to check it has been cleared.

“Although applications were submitted in July and November, they have never been determined.”

A spokesman for Brighton Society said: “Is the owner playing cat and mouse with the council, removing one advertisement a few weeks after it is painted, just as the council enforcement team has caught up with it, then immediately replacing it with another?

“This advert has not got permission to be there, it must go now.

“Immediate action must be taken to stop the continuation of adverts being placed on Gelato Gusto, Gardner Street.”

A manager at Gelato Gusto said the murals had “nothing do to” with the business.