Cllr Howard Sykes writes: “Companies were using permitted development rights as an opportunity to put telephone boxes as part of an advertising panel in sought after areas in order to get new advertising panels installed without planning permission. With a high court ruling that avenue has been partially closed and councils can now challenge companies who would normally need to go through the full planning application process. A draft press release is below in case this is relevant to your area.”
LIB DEMS WELCOME HIGH COURT RULING ON ADVERTISING PANELS AND PHONE BOXES
Responding to the ruling that companies will be more likely to need planning permission when installing new telephone boxes combined with advertising hoardings, local Liberal Democrat campaigner [YOUR NAME] said:
“There has been a concern for some time that the current permitted development rights are being exploited to use telephone kiosks to build a highly lucrative pavement advertising portfolio – rather than the original purpose of providing a place for people to use a phone. This has led to a proliferation of telephone kiosks in town and city centres, which is impacting upon councils’ local economic growth ambitions and the pedestrian experience of their residents and visitors.
“Electronic communications code operators, which include outdoor advertising multinationals who have either acquired or have gone into partnership with existing telecommunication companies have been able to establish phone boxes to sell advertising with limited oversight. The Government needs to urgently take forward the proposals it has recently consulted on and remove the outdated permitted development rights for phone boxes and deemed consent allowing an advert to be placed on them. This will ensure that all future applications for phone boxes can be considered through a full planning application process, so that all material planning considerations can be taken into account when deciding to grant or refuse planning permission.
“The High Court judgment has provided a definitive view on permitted development legislation for new phone boxes. As a result, Liberal Democrats believe [NAME OF COUNCIL] should now be able to refuse to consider new phone boxes through the prior approval process, in some cases, where it is clear they have a purpose other than for the purpose of the operator’s network. Instead, they would need to go through the full planning application process, enabling councils to reject bogus boxes and approve those that communities truly need.”
ENDS