Council clamps down on ‘illegal mega ads’ on Hackney’s buildings
Hackney Council is taking legal action over this advertising hoarding at 600 Kingsland Road
The council is clamping down on ‘mega ads’ that have been plastered across prominent buildings without its consent.
A council spokesperson yesterday confirmed it is taking legal action over a large banner at 600 Kingsland Road, part of the Dalston Conservation Area, as part of an investigation into illegal advertising.
The spokesperson said: “The advertisement in place at 600 Kingsland Road does not have advertising consent and is therefore illegal.
“The council has been conducting a thorough investigation of this and other similarly illegal advertisements in the borough.
“A prosecution has commenced and court summons have been issued for the owner of the building and the owner of the advert at 600 Kingsland Road.”
Planning documents show consent for “shroud scaffolding covering the whole building…with two inserts for advertisements” was granted by the council on 21 December 2015 and is valid for 12 months.
A statement supporting the application, made by the firm Blow Up Media, reads: “Temporary consent [to advertise] is sought for 12 months whilst the frontage is scaffolded during building works. The proposal would be an obvious temporary feature related to building works going on behind, and not a permanent display.”
It is understood that consent was granted on the proviso that the shroud frontage would allow for – and help fund – restoration work on the building during the 12 months.
But pictures of the site taken this year show no such scaffolding, building works or shroud in place.
The owner of the building Buckingham Investment Ltd and Blow Up Media are required to attend an initial hearing on 9 December 2016 at Thames Magistrates’ Court.
A director of Blow Up Media, who declined to give his name when asked, insisted that advertising consent had been granted.
Isaac Salem, director of Buckingham Investment Ltd, declined to comment.
Proposed view of 600 Kingsland Road with scaffolding and shroud façade, as submitted to the council by Blow Up Media as part of its application to advertise at the location. Photograph: Hackney Council
No scaffolding: 600 Kingsland Road on 15 November 2016
Beautiful jewel of an old pub on #Dalston junction, gets vandalised by a POXY @oakley ad. #Hackney @HackneySociety pic.twitter.com/GmpTGk73Jy
— Tod Hanson (@Todcollider) 7 April 2016
Legislation “not fit for purpose”
Cllr Vincent Stops says the council is ultimately powerless to stop firms advertising without consent in the borough.
He claims companies are able to paste their ads on landmarks in Dalston and Shoreditch knowing the legal process to remove them is costly and time consuming.
“These adverts don’t have advertising consent, but the advertising companies can game the system because they can make a lot of money,” said Cllr Stops.
Although the council is aware of the practice and does intervene, Cllr Stops said it is effectively powerless.
“There will be enforcement cases, but the legislation is not really fit for purpose,” he explained.
Legal proceedings are apparently time consuming, and whilst they are in process the adverts remain in situ.
“It is very frustrating and a waste of public money,” he added.
But the council doesn’t mind when it’s being paid for massive video billboard ads that light up a street. Take a look at Amhurst Rd, or the Lea Bridge roundabout. The only difference is the council get the revenue, they don’t care about how Hackney looks.
I think it’s ten years now since the magnificent city of São Paulo outlawed ALL outdoor advertisements, including on billboards, transit, and in front of stores.
Cllr Stops is effectively saying ‘we don’t have the will to fight this’, basically confirming the Council’s lax attitude on this issue. In other boroughs people wouldn’t get away with this. Those of us who have to look at these eyesores are wondering where our Council tax is going instead.
These advertising hoardings obscure our view of an attractive well-designed Victorian building set within a conservation zone. The corporate ads (often promoting products by alleged tax cheats such as Google and Apple) are nothing better than visual pollution. Large sums of money are being exchanged to both produce and operate these guerrilla advertising spots.
Given that, in the past, Hackney Council has swiftly destroyed some of our most valued pieces of public art on the (often false) grounds that it was unlawful graffiti e.g. Banksy’s Royal Family in Stoke Newington Church Street, it seems strange that the Council has been so tardy in removing these tasteless items of corporate blight.
Far be it for me to incite criminal damage but … I’d be happy to see some of our local artists “enhance” these unlawful canvases with something a bit more artistic and creative! And, I suspect, the sight of graffiti art work might incite Hackney Council to act more promptly to ensure their permanent removal.
Scaffolding is being built again on this building, and it looks like another attempt at advertising through these giant billboards is currently waiting a decision with the council under reference – 2022/1049