Green Party Councillors have expressed their dismay at the planning approval for a digital advertising hoarding outside the Hicks Building on Western Bank. (1)
Broomhill and Sharrow Vale Councillor Brian Holmshaw said
“There are already 926 advertising sites in Sheffield. They consist of billboards, bus shelter ads and increasing numbers of freestanding digital advertising screens. These digital hoardings on footways come with a series of issues.
“I’m very concerned about any obstacles on the footway of a key pedestrian route such as this one. The siting, height, and bulk of the reinstalled digital advertising hoarding, outside the Hicks Building, and its brightness give an overly conspicuous and obtrusive visual impact on the character and appearance of the area.
“The display will cause increased conflict with pedestrians on Western Bank by obstructing the footway.
“Digital advertising screens significantly increase the number of bright, intrusive adverts local residents such as students, University staff and road users are exposed to. This will have an adverse effect on road safety. The most recent research suggests there is a direct link between roadside advertisement and car crashes. The main two reasons that make digital billboards more distracting are their brightness and the fast changing images, for example when transitioning from an ad to the next.
“The energy consumption of an electronic billboard is estimated to be the same as six average UK homes. Advertising itself contributes massively to our collective CO2 emissions, and promotes unhealthy products, damaging wellbeing. Permitting these boards would be in direct opposition to Sheffield’s declaration of a climate emergency”
City Ward Councillor Ruth Mersereau said,
“ In November the Council passed a Green motion agreeing to make Sheffield a Pedestrian Friendly City. The distracting, energy hungry, obstructions that these digital advertising displays represent are incompatible with a city that puts pedestrians first.
“The Council has also recently passed a new Advertising and Sponsorship policy that says we shouldn’t promote advertising that poses a health and safety risk. For example, as a result of flickering or other visual imagery in the case of digital media. The evidence on the impact of these digital advertising displays is clearly at odds with their approval and the Council needs to ensure that its planning policies prioritise pedestrians not the private profit of the advertising companies.”
