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24/08/2005
Roadside billboards deface countryside and pose safety threat
Across England this Bank Holiday weekend, millions of people will take to the roads. Many will be trying to get away from it all in England's finest landscapes.
But, on the way, they will be confronted by a countryside scarred and degraded by hundreds of large advertising hoardings.
Countryside campaigners CPRE are today releasing the findings of our survey of advertising on motorways and major roads, carried out with support from the Countryside Agency and drawing on data collected by the Highways Agency. We name companies promoting and using this form of advertising.
Advertising hoardings, often over 10ft tall, are spreading besides our major cross-country roads like a rash, defacing the countryside and reducing safety. CPRE estimates there are now about 900 across England, or one for every three miles of major fast road. There are likely to be many more on other routes{3}. On one particular stretch of rural motorway, a motorist may, on average, see a hoarding every 30 seconds{4}.
CPRE believes that most of these huge advertising hoardings have been set up without obtaining the necessary regulatory consent. As for those that have been consented to by local planning authorities — consent should never have been granted in the first place.
Paul Miner, CPRE's Planning Campaigner, said:
'For more than 50 years, planning controls have saved the English landscape from the pox of outdoor advertising. This achievement is now in danger. Billboards and hoardings are mushrooming alongside motorways and major roads across England, despite Government policy and regulations clearly stating they should be strictly controlled'.
The advertisements, designed to grab motorists' attention, have no regard for either the character of the countryside or road safety. There are even some hoardings placed right next to signs telling motorists to change lanes due to roadworks.
CPRE's survey also looked at the perpetrators of this outrage. We found at least six websites specialising directly in roadside advertising.
One firm that has put up advertising without first seeking consent claims that: 'by being completely mobile we have the flexibility to put your advertisement where planning permission would not normally be granted'. The Outdoor Advertising Council has publicly dissociated itself from motorway advertising. But a number of well-known national companies have featured on motorway advertisements.
CPRE is promoting positive solutions. Our briefing The Local Heroes shows how local authority planners can learn from their colleagues in resisting the spread of motorway advertising.
Paul Miner concluded: 'We don't have to put up with this flagrant abuse of planning rules. We welcome the Government's advice to local authorities that they should use the powers they have to take action. But this isn't enough on its own.'
'We need a proper legal duty to enforce planning control. Without this, the rash of roadside advertising will just keep coming back.'
But, on the way, they will be confronted by a countryside scarred and degraded by hundreds of large advertising hoardings.
Countryside campaigners CPRE are today releasing the findings of our survey of advertising on motorways and major roads, carried out with support from the Countryside Agency and drawing on data collected by the Highways Agency. We name companies promoting and using this form of advertising.
Advertising hoardings, often over 10ft tall, are spreading besides our major cross-country roads like a rash, defacing the countryside and reducing safety. CPRE estimates there are now about 900 across England, or one for every three miles of major fast road. There are likely to be many more on other routes{3}. On one particular stretch of rural motorway, a motorist may, on average, see a hoarding every 30 seconds{4}.
CPRE believes that most of these huge advertising hoardings have been set up without obtaining the necessary regulatory consent. As for those that have been consented to by local planning authorities — consent should never have been granted in the first place.
Paul Miner, CPRE's Planning Campaigner, said:
'For more than 50 years, planning controls have saved the English landscape from the pox of outdoor advertising. This achievement is now in danger. Billboards and hoardings are mushrooming alongside motorways and major roads across England, despite Government policy and regulations clearly stating they should be strictly controlled'.
The advertisements, designed to grab motorists' attention, have no regard for either the character of the countryside or road safety. There are even some hoardings placed right next to signs telling motorists to change lanes due to roadworks.
CPRE's survey also looked at the perpetrators of this outrage. We found at least six websites specialising directly in roadside advertising.
One firm that has put up advertising without first seeking consent claims that: 'by being completely mobile we have the flexibility to put your advertisement where planning permission would not normally be granted'. The Outdoor Advertising Council has publicly dissociated itself from motorway advertising. But a number of well-known national companies have featured on motorway advertisements.
CPRE is promoting positive solutions. Our briefing The Local Heroes shows how local authority planners can learn from their colleagues in resisting the spread of motorway advertising.
Paul Miner concluded: 'We don't have to put up with this flagrant abuse of planning rules. We welcome the Government's advice to local authorities that they should use the powers they have to take action. But this isn't enough on its own.'
'We need a proper legal duty to enforce planning control. Without this, the rash of roadside advertising will just keep coming back.'
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