Advertising giant fined again

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hoarding leaves the building badly damaged

A leading international advertising company has been fined once again for erecting large billboards in the borough without consent.

JC Decaux UK, part of Europe's largest outdoor advertising company, was ordered to pay a total of £4,615 after being convicted of offences relating to an unlawful advertising hoarding just off Garratt Lane in Wandsworth. The illuminated hoarding, which measured 28 square metres, was bolted to the side of a building in Allfarthing Lane.

The company was prosecuted by the council's planning department for breaching the Town and Country Planning Act. Magistrates fined company chiefs £3,200 and ordered it to pay the council's prosecution costs of £1,415.

In July JC Decaux had to pay what is thought to be a record fine of more than £39,000 after being taken to court by the council for displaying a number of billboards in the borough without permission – including one on a Grade II* listed building. On that occasion the company was convicted of 14 offences.

Planning officials are now using the latest case to highlight the risks freeholders run if they allow large advertising hoardings to be erected on buildings they own. When JC Decaux installed the hoarding, they used dozens of large bolts to attach it to the building. When the company removed it, the building was left pockmarked with dozens of large holes. As a result of so many holes being drilled deep into the brickwork, the property is now much more likely to suffer from dampness and water penetration in the coming months and years.

Executive member for planning and transportation Cllr Guy Senior said: " This company appears to pay absolutely no heed to planning laws and goes around erecting gigantic billboards and hoardings without ever bothering to apply for consent.

"I hope they now get the message that if they try to put up these massive and unsightly hoardings without permission we will not hesitate to take enforcement action against them.

"There is also a strong message here for the owners of the properties used to display these ads. This particular hoarding has left this building in a very sorry state with 40 or so bolt holes that may lead to serious damp problems in the future.

"These very large billboards weigh several tonnes and late Victorian properties were just not built to support such weights. It is also not unknown for these types of large adverts to fall from their fixings and crash to the ground underneath. This could obviously have tragic consequences for passing pedestrians or motorists, so it is also worth reminding freeholders that they too could be legally responsible if such a tragedy occurred."

 

September 13, 2007