Bedfordview and Edenvale councillors share crisis on billboards
“Metro is willing to sell themselves to advertising agencies at the expense of its ratepayers.”
The Bedfordview and Edenvale communities have long sought relief from illegal billboards.
Ward 20 Clr Jill Humphreys from Bedfordview and Ward 18 Clr Heather Hart from Edenvale shared disputes over the billboard plague with their communities in the past and recently the NEWS reported on the application process for billboards as established by City of Ekurhuleni (CoE).
Also read: Humphreys welcomes Bedfordview’s support of petition against illegal billboards
Hart said that there are numerous cases where billboards do not comply with the by-laws but are still approved by metro.
Humphreys and Hart said when a billboard application is sent for approval, a valid reason needs to be identified to object to the billboard.
The billboard needs to meet requirements and the signage cannot be distracting to road users.
Also read: CoE evaluates billboard applications
“When we get these applications, we want it to meet the requirements as per the by-laws of outdoor advertising,” said Hart, who is also the DA Shadow MMC for City Planning.
Both councillors said they have to do site checks to see whether these billboards meet the by-laws.
“We should not have to check up on this nor have to do this as part of our jobs,” said Humphreys.
Commenting on the Smith Road billboard in Bedfordview, Humphreys said the median should be 4.9m and the billboard is 3.5m which contravenes the by-laws.
The by-law states a horizontal clearance of 4.5m from the break point of the road is required.
Humphreys said Ekurhuleni is “littered” with empty billboards and this is devaluing the city.
“We understand that metro is required to maximise return on investment on behalf of residents but it should not be done in contravention of the by-laws,” said Hart.
“The by-laws for billboards on bridges require permission from Sanral, yet metro approves these billboards without permission from Sanral.
“How can councillors protect the interest of the residents and protect our areas from visual pollution if our comments and input are not taken seriously? The metro seems hell-bent on destroying Bedfordview and will wake up one day to realise that it has killed the proverbial golden goose,” said Hart.
“Metro is willing to sell themselves to advertising agencies at the expense of its ratepayers.”
“It is unacceptable that city planning, which the department of outdoor advertising operates from, turns a blind eye while high-valued areas are destroyed by metro’s greed,” said Hart.
“While city planning should be making great places, they are complicit in allowing outdoor advertising to do exactly the opposite by the proliferation and clutter of these monstrous billboards,” said Hart.
The NEWS requested comment from CoE by October 4 at 9am.
At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
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