The Planning Authority has turned down One’s application to sanction an electronic billboard that has been operating for the last four years next to the Labour Party’s media house in Marsa.
In November 2013, the planning watchdog issued an enforcement notice against this billboard. This was followed by an application for its sanctioning.
The application was refused because the billboard is not in line with the Authority’s Policy and Design Guidance for Billboards and Signs.
One hundred and fourteen “designated sites” are indicated in this policy, stating clearly that billboards “will only be considered” within these sites. This electronic billboard is not.
A major cause of light spill
While processing the application, the Planning Directorate had informed the applicant that a request for the suspension of the submission could be made until the review of the policy was concluded. The architect suspended the application in April 2014.
A legal notice seeking the removal of illegal billboards that have mushroomed around the Maltese islands was published in March.
The new law seeks to eliminate existing loopholes and provide for a more effective enforcement regime with higher fines, ranging from €1,000 for the first offence and going up to a maximum €5,000.
All billboards have to be registered with Transport Malta against an annual licence of €1,500 and the term ‘political advertisement’ was redefined to ensure that political billboards would only be allowed during electoral campaigns.
The Labour Party’s media house requested the re-activation of its electronic billboard’s sanctioning application on April 16, 2016.
In the meantime, the court upheld a request for a warrant of injunction, submitted by the Nationalist Party, stopping the Planning Authority from removing political billboards from Maltese roads.
An objection against One’s application was submitted by the Light Pollution Awareness Group, claiming that electronic billboards were a source of disabling glare to motorists at night and a major cause of light spill.
Should the authority approve the application, the NGO recommended the imposition of a maximum luminance threshold.
Transport Malta gave its clearance as long as the luminance did not exceed the 400 candela per square metre threshold and the image was static.
Before the authority’s decision, the applicant pointed out that a billboard outside the designated area in Mrieħel was approved in 2010.
The chairperson said she had then voted against the application which, however, was approved because it was adjacent to a permitted pedestrian bridge.
One can appeal the Planning Authority decision.