Plans for a digital advertising screen near Sunderland Royal Hospital have been refused over highway safety fears and concerns neighbours could be impacted.
Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee, at a meeting this week, blocked plans for a digital advertisement on the gable end of a property in Kayll Road.
Applicant Wildstone Estates Limited was seeking permission to replace the ‘paper and paste’ display on the junction of Kayll Road and Henderson Road with an ‘illuminated digital advertisement’.
A council report discussed this week said the sign would measure six metres wide and three metres in height and would “incorporate multicoloured text and background and internally illuminated aperture”.
During a council consultation exercise on the plans however, six letters of objection were received from properties in Henderson Road.
Concerns included impacts on visual amenity, the siting and design of the advert, highway safety impacts, light pollution from the advert operating 24/7 and the environmental impact of the signage.
Councillors on the Planning and Highways Committee formally considered the plans at a meeting on 2 September at City Hall.
Council planning officers, in a report prepared ahead of the decision-making meeting, had recommended the digital advert for refusal. Council planners said the development would appear as an “intrusive feature within the street scene” and would also be a “distraction to motorists”, given the site’s “close proximity of the entrance to the hospital”.
The official refusal reasons included the sign “by virtue of the design, size, siting and illumination […] appearing highly prominent in this location” and “introducing an incongruous feature into the street scene to the detriment of the visual amenities of the area”.
Council planners added the digital advert would “appear as a highly prominent feature within the street scene, in close proximity to busy road junctions, which will prove detrimental [to] highway safety”.
The council report said the plans did not meet the requirements of a council policy which states “development should not exacerbate traffic congestion on the existing highway network or increase the risk of accidents or endanger the safety of road users including pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users”.
Council planners added the proposal would have an “adverse impact on highway safety, in particular road users accessing the nearby Sunderland Royal Hospital”.
It was concluded that “the display of the digital sign is considered unacceptable due to impact on amenity due to the size, scale, illumination and setting within a small side street and the close proximity to the entrance of Sunderland Royal Hospital”.
Councillor Steven Donkin, Pallion ward councillor, attended Monday’s planning hearing at City Hall to speak on behalf of residents.
Cllr Donkin welcomed the recommendation to refuse the Kayll Road digital advert plans and said residents were “extremely concerned” about safety and residential amenity issues, including light pollution.
“The light is there to serve one purpose and one purpose only, to attract the attention,” he added.
After being put to the vote, councillors voted in line with the recommendations of council planners and refused advertising consent for the development.
Councillor Iain Scott, welcoming the decision, said: “Advertisements certainly have a place but certainly not at the amenity of residents or highway safety”.
Councillor Michael Dixon added: “It’s a very busy junction, there’s parking on Kayll Road which makes it difficult to get out and there’s also overspill [parking] from the hospital. So very happy to accept the recommendation to refuse”.
The applicant has the right to challenge the council’s refusal decision by lodging an appeal with the Secretary of State.
