Redbridge planners have rejected three applications to put hi-tech advertising screens on Wanstead High Street, saying they would not fit with the character of the area.
The three screens – one outside Gail’s, one outside the Lighthouse fish and chip shop, and one near Luppolo – would have had illuminated screens and also a phone (not in a box) and a defibrillator. However, the high street is part of the Wanstead Conservation Zone which restricts the use of internally-lit signs – shops are not supposed to have them.
The rejection of the plans said the screens would be:
at odd with local distinctiveness and character and appearance of the wider conservation area and its siting would detract from the openness of the street scene and the frontage of the street facing commercial units and would add to visual clutter which would further undermine the vibrancy of the district centre, failing to preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area. As such, the proposal would be contrary to Policies LP26, LP28 and LP33 of the Local Plan and HC1 of the London Plan.
The story is not necessarily over though. The rejections also note the the applicants had not consulted with the council before submitting the plans, and advises them that they should seek “pre application advice” before they resubmit.
- There are several defibrillators currently available in Wanstead. This is not a complete list – please send any additions to info@wansteadium.com and we will plot them on a map for everyone’s reference.
* Wanstead Leisure Centre
* Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket Club
* Alan Burgess Centre (Corner House)
* The Nightingale Pub
* Tesco
* M&S - (Thanks for defib. info: Toni, Kat)
That’s a relief. Flashing screens getting in the way with distracting messages telling you to spend your money elsewhere would have been a nightmare.
The bit on the planning application about them showing ’emergency information’ seemed a desperate way of suggesting there might be some important benefit to loss of amenity and character – but where I see them on more cluttered pavements in other boroughs, they only show the most banal of news, presumably to make the advertisements themselves seem less banal than they are by comparison. It’s hard to think of any ’emergency information’ that would be usefully conveyed as a blipvert, even through the pandemic. So the bit about a defibrillator seemed pretty suspect too, even before realising there was one about fifty metres away.