Plans for advertising hoardings in parks and open space across Lambeth have been withdrawn by the council after planning applications for them drew social media protests and petitions.
Brixton sites in the plans included Trinity Square, Windmill Gardens, Windrush Square, St Matthew’s Peace Garden, Coldharbour Lane Public open space, and the corner of Brixton Hill and New Park Road.
One Trinity Gardens resident said the proposal to erect five large hoardings on the railings of the square would obscure views and ”would seem out of keeping with the council’s own planning guidance.
“To add insult to injury, these proposals have not been properly flagged to residents – many of us have not received letters from the council detailing the proposals and there have been no public notices posted.”
A council spokesperson told the Bugle: “Following representations from residents’ groups and other interested parties, the council is reconsidering the proposed advertisements in parks and public spaces. These applications have been withdrawn.
“We consulted with our key stakeholder groups for each park. This included partnership boards, friends groups or residents’ associations. Officers have also been discussing this with the Lambeth Parks Forum for the last two years.
“We will be carrying out further consultation with our communities and liaising with officers from the local planning authority.”
A policy decision was made by council officers in 2017 to allow CP Media to place advertising boards in borough parks (subject to planning approval) in order to raise revenue to make up shortfalls in the council’s budget.
There was no public consultation at the time. The decision was based on placing a small number of “low impact” modestly sized boards.
However, even the council seemed to be surprised by the number and size of the boards that its own parks department had applied for.
