Two controversial electric advertising billboards that were scrapped following complaints could soon light up Chelsea once again.

A planning application has been put before RBKC to re-instate two digital LED screens on Cheyne Walk (that’s the A3220, folks) – but critical changes have been promised to head off opposition from residents.

Two enormous – and very bright – digital boards were installed around 2017 at the junction of Cheyne Walk and Lots Road, but were met with complaints from residents in the World’s End Estate and Lots Village because of excessive nighttime light pollution. Not only did the fierce glare disturb residents, it also affected wildlife and may have even distracted drivers.

Consequently, RBKC bowed to public pressure and de-commissioned the boards, even though it is believed that they generated around £500,000 per year. The displays were replaced with an expansive wooden hoarding that presented advertising campaigns across 40ft stretches of printed polyurethane.

This more traditional set-up has proved to be less successful than the digital solution and has failed to attract a longterm advertiser. Campaigns have often been rotated fortnightly, involving a considerable amount of wastage and high labour costs. The vast covers are expensive to create and must be installed by a specialist team of climbers. For a long period last year, the space was taken up for free by a mental health charity. Lately, no advertisers have been secured, so the space has been occupied by two default signs printed with the word ‘HOPE’.

 

Now, a Fulham-based advertising solutions company called London Lites has high hopes for the site and is working alongside RBKC to bring back digital advertising displays. It has made multiple design changes to assuage residents.

The original two boards were both 3.3 metres high, but differed in width – one was 12.3 metres and the other was 6.3 metres. The proposed new boards will be 5.25 metres high and only 3.5 metres wide. They will also be surrounded by a ‘living wall’ of planting to off-set any negative environmental impact and to “soften the impact of the advertising material”. The planning application states that the display square footage will fall from 61 sq/m to 36 sq/m – a reduction of 40%.

The green wall will use “pollinator-friendly planting”, such as verbena, sedum and erigon, and the wall will be maintained by electronically controlled irrigation so the greenery does not wither. The developer has also committed to a regular pruning and weeding programme. The foliage will cover 65% of the site and, it is claimed, will represent a ‘bio-diversity net gain’.

London Lites also states that the boards will be fitted with the latest recyclable LED technology that will reduce night-time “luminance”, as well as automatically lower the glare during the day (for enthusiasts of the genre: ‘the maximum luminance will be 600cd/m2 during daylight hours and 300cd/m2 from dusk’!). The lights will be completely turned off from 11pm-7am.

 

 

The display will be restricted to static images, which rules out invasive videos or animation, and they will only change every 10 seconds. The displays will also be tilted at 10 degrees towards the traffic flow to avoid ‘light spill’ onto the World’s End Estate.

In a further concession to make the digital displays more appealing to the local public, London Lites has agreed to gift any unsold advertising space to RBKC for free to use for ‘community engagement and local outreach’. The council has promised to make this ad time available to local charities and good causes, as well as for council announcements.

It has emerged that RBKC is looking to expand its inventory of digital display billboards with living walls across the borough and the Cheyne Walk proposal is seen as an important test case.

 

 

A spokesman for London Lites told The Citizen: ‘We’re honoured to have been chosen by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to work with them on the future of this well-known advertising site, which has been part of the area for over 30 years.

‘We know members of the local community have raised concerns about the last screens. We have taken that on board and, as a result, we’ve come up with a new plan that we hope feels more in tune with the neighbourhood. It includes scaling down the advertising space and introducing a large living wall — not just to improve how the site looks, but to support biodiversity in the area.

‘We care about making a positive difference — not just to how places look, but to the people and local businesses who live and work nearby. The site will still generate meaningful income for the Borough, which we know is important.  We hope that local residents and the Royal Borough will embrace this development.’

Cllr Johnny Thalassites, RBKC’s lead member for finance and customer service, said: ‘The plans aim to reduce the size of the existing advertisement  and include a green wall element for the first time, improving the appearance of Cheyne Walk and ending what has become something of an eyesore. At a time when the Government is cutting funding to local councils, the changes being proposed will also help to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds – so we can continue to provide outstanding services.’

The Citizen has contacted all three relevant residents associations (The Cheyne Walk Trust, World’s End Residents Association and Lots Village Neighbourhood Forum) for comment and will update this page as soon as any feedback is received. Residents have until 23rd June to file a comment on the council portal.