Blitz on the illegal roadside banners
COUNCIL chiefs have waged a war on illegal advertising banners which are littering the town’s roads.
Macclesfield Town Council has outlawed banners promoting commercial events or businesses on public property.
It has pledged to take down and destroy them ‘without notice’ and charge persist offenders for the costs of disposing of them.
However, the new rules do allow banners promoting community and charity events provided organisers ask permission, restrict advertising to no more two weeks before the scheduled event, and take it down within two days of its end.
It is the latest effort by the town council to clear up the roadsides in Macclesfield.
In recent months its planning committee has taken a stand against a raft of applications by Ansa, the arms-length company owned by Cheshire East Council which delivers waste and recycling services, to install sponsorship signs on almost every roundabout in the town centre.
Macclesfield Town Council claims the signs will be a distraction to traffic. But its major gripe is with a ‘rapid proliferation’ of banners by other groups which it says are stuck up without proper permission, litter the roadside and distracts motorists.
Councillor Liz Durham, who represents Broken Cross ward, said: “Banners are a quick, easy and cheap way of advertising events and businesses and we have seen a rapid proliferation of this type of advertising littering the roadside, often in place for months.
“This new policy seeks to clarify that community activities can still responsibly make use of this means of advertising, but that businesses must adhere to normal advertising practices.
“Many of these banners, which are quite cheap to buy, are littering the roadside in the town and can cause distraction and obstruction to vehicles and pedestrians. From now on we will be removing them and those who persist may well find themselves paying for the costs of removal and disposal”.
A spokesman for Cheshire East Council said: “The council is looking into the possibility of creating some advertising space on roundabouts in the borough.
“The authority has acted upon requests received from a number of local businesses about using roundabout space in this way.”