Screen test blow for Preston Council as giant roadside advert monitor allowed on appeal

A planning inspector has overturned the authority's decision to refuse an LED monitor on land next to Gateway House on Ringway - the second time the planning authority has suffered defeat over the issue at an appeal in the past 12 months.

The case was the fifth to go to the Planning Inspectorate for adjudication since October 2020.

The score now stands at 2-2, with a fifth - on a building just 30 metres away from Gateway House in Market Street West - due to be decided any time now.

Council chiefs refused planning permission in April for the 6mx3m freestanding digital advertising unit on a grass verge on the corner of Ringway and Market Street West.

At the time it said the screen, which would capable of showing a rolling series of 48 adverts at 10 second intervals, would have "a significant detrimental impact on visual amenity due to its prominent position, and its size, height and illumination."

It also said it would "result in visual clutter in the wider street scene and surrounding area, particularly when viewed from Ringway."

But planning inspector R Jones disagreed after considering the evidence. He ruled that despite its size and prominent position facing up Ringway, it would not cause any harm to those living or working nearby.

The council cited two cases it had won at appeal against giant ad screens - by Neptune House on Strand Road and near to a garage forecourt in London Road - but the inspector said neither were relevant in this case.

The Gateway House screen, proposed by Alight Media, is the second to be overturned on appeal. In July 2021 an inspector decided the council's decision to throw out an application for a screen attached to the gable end of a building in London Road had been wrong.

Preston company Clayton Recruitment is appealing a decision not to allow a screen on the side of its building in Market Street West - a plan it failed with at appeal five years ago.

The cases highlight a growing issue for the city council fighting to control the spread of advertising boards.