Our view
It is vital that the existing powers to deal with the problem be retained and used. Most of the hoardings that have emerged in recent months appear to be unauthorised; in other words, no-one applied for consent for them from the local council, even though they should have.
A careful reading of the regulations concerning advertising makes it clear that anyone placing an advertisement on a stationary trailer in a field should first seek authorisation from the local council under the advertising regulations — and the council should almost always refuse permission.
A trailer advertisement in a field is not a 'permitted development' (development of a kind that does not require a planning application). Nor is a trailer kept in a field one of the types of advertisement that gets another form of automatic permission called 'deemed consent'.
Who is responsible for the advertisement?
Anyone displaying an advertisement in contravention of the regulations commits an offence under section 224(3) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Potentially guilty parties include the owner or occupier of the land as well as the company whose products or services are advertised and the company which actually arranges the advertising.
What if a company does follow the rules and tries to get the advert properly authorised? The Government, in a letter sent to all local planning authorities in July 2005, has reminded them of the clear advice given in Department of the Environment Circular 5/92 that land alongside motorways should be kept free of advertisements that either blot the landscape or are a possible danger to drivers. So such advertising should not be authorised.
Our name and shame briefing pinpoints a number of companies who either specialise in, or have used, this form of advertising. Since then, three of the companies mentioned in the briefing — Accor Hotels, Midland Main Line and Tesco, have contacted CPRE and informed us that they have either abandoned the use of this advertising or intend to.
In a letter to CPRE at the beginning of September 2005, Accor Hotels stated that:
Accor fully support this campaign and are committed to protecting the beauty of the countryside...
...I assure you that we are supportive of your actions and Accor are fully committed to protecting the environment which is proved by our Sustainable Development policy.
Government policy needs to be stronger
Areas of Special Control of Advertising (ASCAs) have long been an effective way of keeping the countryside free of large hoardings. Within these areas — drawn up by local councils and approved by Government — there are much tougher restrictions on advertising billboards than elsewhere. In recent years the Government has sent out mixed messages about the important role ASCAs play, however. A few years ago it was considering abolishing them in the wider countryside outside National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty — although fortunately CPRE campaigning led to that idea being dropped.
We argue that Government should revise its policy guidance on advertising control (set out in PPG19 Outdoor Advertisement Control) to affirm its commitment, and give encouragement to local authorities, to maintain ASCAs in the countryside and extend them where suitable.
Local authorities need to enforce
Local authorities should use their powers to crack down on unauthorised roadside advertising. Only some of them do; those councils which don't should learn from them.
We sent a letter to all English local authorities at the end of August 2005, requesting their endorsement of our campaign. By mid-September 2005, twenty five had either provided an endorsement or stated that they are taking action to remove unauthorised advertising.
The Government wrote to all local planning authorities in July 2005 reminding them to use the powers they have to tackle unauthorised roadside advertising. But it can and should do more. It needs to introduce a legal duty to enforce advertising control alongside major roads, as a first step to a duty covering all aspects of enforcing planning control.
In addition, authorities in London can serve notice to advertisements which do not have express consent, requiring the offending advertisement to be removed within 21 days. If it is not removed during that time, the authority is permitted to remove the advert. The London Local Authorities Act of 1995 also allows for the recovery of costs of removal of an unlawful advertisement. If these powers were expanded nationally unlawful displays could be removed by all Local Planning Authorities and the cost of doing so recovered from those responsible.
At the same time, the Highways Agency — the Government body which looks after the motorways and major A roads — should be directed to help local authorities in acting against unauthorised roadside advertisements.
