A win for campaigners today as plans for a digital billboard on Cheltenham Road are withdrawn in the face of massive public resistance.
Over 400 people objected to the planning application, submitted in March by Network Rail, for a digital screen billboard to replace the existing billboard on the roadside at the junction of Cheltenham Road, Station Road and North Road.
The plan was opposed as soon as it became public by Adblock Bristol who argued that a digital display showing a new advert every ten seconds would be a distraction for drivers on what is a very busy junction, one which saw 49 accidents in the last five years.
Read more: The fight to end corporate advertising in Bristol
The encroachment of digital billboards across Bristol has been the subject of growing resistance recently.
Unlike their paper predecessors, digital billboards are harder to ignore and are sometimes downright obtrusive, shining through people’s windows as they sleep, for instance.
Clear Channel UK, a digital marketing company, recently submitted 86 separate planning applications for new and upgraded digital billboards on the city’s bus stops as part of their contract with Bristol City Council.
Adblock are now working to gather public opposition to these applications and have developed an interactive map where people can find their nearest potential billboard to object to.
Feature image show one of the M32 billboards. Image: James Ward.
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