A planning application has been submitted to Lambeth Council in South London for the erection of a Wildstone Estates digital advertising board at an MFG filling station as part of an ongoing project.
The two firms have worked together countless times in the past to place digital ad boards at petrol stations, with planning documents revealing this is part of a programme to “modernise existing advertising infrastructure across the MFG portfolio and where possible to rationalise and declutter existing advertisements”, an initiative that is said to be “industry wide”.
At times MFG and Wildstone’s projects are approved by authorities, while on other occasions they are refused – often on grounds of driver distraction, or because it is felt the boards would negatively impact the local area. Appeals are often lodged with the Planning Inspectorate when permission is refused – sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
The digital screens are frequently placed by forecourt entrance and exit points and typically take a ‘D6’ (digital six-sheet) format of 1.2m wide by 1.8m tall – plus bezel and stands – though on occasion larger screens are planned.
An engineering and architecture firm typically handles the planning applications for MFG/Wildstone, as is the case here, with Lambeth Council asked to consider proposals to place a 1.2m wide by 2.4m tall digital screen near the entrance of an Esso site in Streatham Hill.
The single-sided board will automatically adjust its brightness based on ambient light conditions, and will be able to display six advertising campaigns at a time, changing what is shown every 10 seconds. Adverts will be for local goods and services, as well as products sold in the forecourt shop.
The board will be remotely controlled and monitored to change advertising campaigns and detect any faults, being programmed with software that can tell if the board develops a fault, or even if the screen has been cracked. If a problem occurs a remote “kill switch” can be activated, with engineers being able to respond within 24 hours.
Lambeth Council has yet to rule on the application, which was submitted in late July.
