We knew this would happen. Despite holding out against allowing advertising behemoths to take control of Wanstead High Street, Redbridge Planning has been overruled by the government’s Planning Inspectorate and a digital display board is now being installed outside the Lighthouse Fish & Chip shop. It’s probably the first of several such displays.
The decision means that companies can show adverts on massive TV screens on the street, whereas shopkeepers may not have illuminated shopfronts in the interests of preserving the Wanstead Village Conservation Area.
The inspector ruled that the adverts should be allowed because the board is “not prominent” and would “respect the surrounding area”. If you can’t follow that logic, the reasoning is set out in the inspector’s ruling, below.
One hopes the advertisers will be paying substantial rates to the council for the right to show us adverts. The payphones will rarely if ever be used. There’s going to be a defibrillator on the board outside the Lighthouse – let’s hope that won’t ever be needed. But it’s an expensive way to have one installed, especially when there are already defibrillators at the Corner House, the Co-op, the Evergreen Surgery and in Tesco.
It’s hard to say what is the benefit of these new boards to residents, council tax-payers or voters. The inspector believes they contribute to “vitality and viability” of the street. Again, the logic is set out below.
- Last year Redbridge Planning set rules on the images which could be shown on a new board which was installed outside Tesco as part of a public phone which will also never be used, including that they are not video, don’t flash, don’t change more often than every 10 seconds and aren’t too bright.
