I've noticed some planning applications for large 1.3-by-2 metre advertising hoardings on St John's Road and Northcote Road, that seem to have gone pretty much unnoticed and unopposed so far. They'll be a bit of an eyesore, and will block the pavement somewhat - but the reason they have not been widely advertised for comment is that the developers have found a handy loophole and seem to be arguing that because there's a small payphone stuck on the back, the large adverts don't need to pay rent or seek proper planning permission! The same issue is going on in Westminster, and was the subject of a recent BBC article titled "Westminster council opposed to 'advertising junk' phone boxes" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-39264507).
We have already found no fewer than five proposed along Lavender Hill, and have objected on behalf of the Lavender Hill for Me residents group (with details of the objection at https://lavenderhillforme.wordpress.com/) - but the Lavender Hill group has a deliberately very local focus on supporting that road, so if anyone doesn't like the look of these proposals in the area as a whole it may be worth feeding in a few comments on the Wandsworth planning site.
The Lavender Hill for Me letter (https://lavenderhillforme.files.wordpre ... dverts.pdf) sets out all sorts of possible grounds to argue that these should go through the normal process like any other advertising board (especially given that some block the view of listed buildings, some block pavements, several are right in the view of turning vehicles, several are completely incongruous...).
To comment - visit https://wandsworth.gov.uk/planning , and for maybe comment on applications 2017/1078 (Northcote Road), 2017/1072 or 2017/1077 (St Johns Road). There are probably many more but at least a few objections will hopefully help these slipping through without any challenge - as the one thing we can all be sure of, is that if these get through the no-planning, no-rent loophole, more and larger eyesores will probably follow...
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