Thurrock Council has refused planning permission for a new digital advertising board at the MFG forecourt on the A1036 Arterial Road in Purfleet-on-Thames in Essex.
In its decision, the Council said the siting of it – next to other advertisements and street furniture – would create ‘visual clutter’ and be harmful to the character of the local area. A second reason for turning down the request was the fact that the board would have had changing ads which could have been a distraction to drivers and therefore a road safety hazard.
The proposed single-sided freestanding D6 digital advertisement board would have measured 1.23m in width and 2.4m in height, with a depth of 0.34m. It would have displayed static advertisements on rotation onto a screen size of approximately 1.7m x 1m.
The Council’s Highways Officer says the particular issue was the potential distraction to traffic on a fast-moving road. “This location is in close proximity to a number of accesses and also to the approach to a roundabout. Concern is raised that this advertisement may cause a distraction to drivers in an area where it would be critical for traffic to have full attention of the road conditions.”
MFG’s agent submitted further details indicating that it considered that the sign would not result in undue risk to road or pedestrian safety. They also referred to documentation provided by Transport for London with regards to advertising signs, but the Council said this site was of a far more rural nature than urban or even semi-urban London.
A similar application submitted by a local café had previously been turned down for the same reasons.
