Vauxhall residents succeed with block on flashing advert on their streets

8 November 2021 Toby Porter

A campaign against “intrusive” advertising is hailing a victory after town hall planners rejected a luminous one.

Campaign group Adblock Lambeth and locals opposed a new digital billboard for 383 Kennington Lane in Vauxhall – and it has now been refused planning permission.

The board, proposed by company London Lites, would have replaced an existing paper billboard with an LED screen displaying adverts changing up to 12 times a minute.

Lambeth council refused planning permission as the digital board would hit the overall character of the area.

The existing hoarding, at the crossing of South Lambeth Road, Kennington Lane and Harleyford Road and on the Cycle Superhighway, did not need planning permission.

Local residents objected to the new hoarding on the council’s planning portal website, over concerns about road safety, negative environmental impact or sensory overload.

One resident opposing the application wrote: “As a chronic migraine sufferer, I find public spaces more and more inhospitable. As a reminder, in the UK, about a fifth of women suffers from migraines, while between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the population are thought to be neurodivergent. Please stop ableist politics of public spaces, we all deserve to use those.”

Sensory overload is particularly common in children as well as people who are neurodivergent, suffer from migraines, post-traumatic stress disorder or with mental health issues.

Christopher Scott from the group says: “In the last few years Vauxhall has already been turned into a digital corporate hub, bombarding us with advertising at every corner, but it is also still a residential area, full of independent businesses and with a vibrant nightlife.

“Once there is a precedent for those digital screens, advertising companies can argue that ‘one more won’t hurt’. But that’s when it becomes important to fight every one of them, and show that these neighbourhoods are still alive.”

A letter to residents from Lambeth planning officers said: “The proposed hoarding, by virtue of its changing and illuminated display, scale and position, would result in an adverse impact to visual amenity by reason of failure to contribute positively to the street scene. The proposal, by virtue of its changing and illuminated display, scale and position, would detract from the significance of the Vauxhall Conservation Area.”

This is the third opposition campaign from the group since its creation earlier this year, all having resulted in rejecting the digital billboards planning permission.

London Lites chief executive Sam Dayeh said: “The first we heard of the rejection was from the South London Press, so we have not had time to digest the contents of the officer’s report. We take all objections seriously and will take time to consider each one.”

Adblock Lambeth is currently campaigning against the planning of a large digital billboard on Wandsworth Road. The petition is here.