How Bristol blocked 50 new billboards – and how you can too

Planning applications for digital billboards are proliferating across the UK, and communities across the country, including Newquay, Bournemouth and Sheffield, have been in touch with Adfree Cities to ask for advice. In this blog we summarise how our local group Adblock Bristol blocked 51 of 52 new ‘Street Hub’ billboards, and how you can too.

Bristol Council has blocked 24 of 25 applications for new ‘BT Street Hub’ ad units, following objections by volunteer group Adblock Bristol and local people.

These three metre high monoliths display up to six brightly-lit adverts per minute, are placed on pavements making walking harder, and are designed to catch the attention of drivers, creating a risk to road safety.

Bristol’s success in blocking the spread of these adverts through residents’ objections is fantastic news, and shows that you can stop the ad screens wherever you live, too.

an incongruous, overbearing, and overly-intrusive form of advertisement… [that will] have a detrimental impact on the safe operation of the Bristol’s highway network
– planning officer report, Bristol City Council 2025 (25/10659/A)

Community objections work

In total, Bristol has blocked 51 of 52 applications for BT’s Street Hubs, with just one approved in the city’s shopping district. In 2024, 22 Street Hubs were firmly refused by Bristol Council following more than 750 objections from residents. Community objection works.

The council’s refusal couldn’t be clearer, with the screens dubbed as “an incongruous, overbearing, and overly-intrusive form of advertisement”. Comments on some council reports state that the ad units would “have a detrimental impact on the safe operation of the Bristol’s highway network”. Nevertheless, the advertiser has appealed some of the decisions.

Communities across the country are getting in touch with Adblock Bristol and Adfree Cities after seeing new advertising screens in their city or area, with concerns over the impacts of these screens on light pollution, health, the environment and road safety. Our advice: it’s possible to block billboards – but much harder to remove them.

Block a billboard near you in just 3 steps.

Step 1. Monitor billboard applications

Find your council’s planning website online, either via your council’s website or search for “[your council] planning portal”.

If you’re looking for existing planning applications you can search the planning portal by the application’s reference number (if you know it), location, or search likely keywords, like “advertisement”.

You can also track new billboard applications on your council’s planning website. There should be an option to sign up to notifications for new advertising developments.

NOTE: Different councils have different portals, so yours might look different. You can always contact us for support if you need – or ask your council.

Step 2: Object

Once you’ve found an application on the planning portal there should be an option to “Make a Comment” and write about why you object.

• Why don’t you want this new ad screen? How would it impact you?
• Your council’s Planning Department can only refuse the screen on the grounds of ‘amenity’ and ‘public safety’, so be sure to mention these.
• Amenity: this could include the addition of a freestanding unit causing clutter in a busy pedestrianised area, the contribution to an area already saturated with advertising infrastructure, the addition of a visually unattractive billboard being a detriment to the area’s local character. 
• Public safety: would the billboard be by a busy junction? By a pedestrian crossing? Is there a school nearby? How would it risk distracting drivers and other road users?
• You could also mention the impact these screens have on the environment. One small ad screen uses the same amount of electricity over year as up to 3 UK homes, and larger screens use the same as up to 10 average UK homes.
• If you’re familiar with your council’s Local Plan, you could cite ways in which this development would contradict the Plan’s commitment to, for example, local heritage, preserving areas’ local character, or sustainable development.

Step 3. Mobilise!

The more people that object to a new ad screen, the better. More numbers will show the planning officers that many people don’t want this new development. It will also be useful to have multiple objections if the application is refused but the advertiser chooses to appeal. In some cases, a large number of objections has even caused the advertisers to withdraw the application.

Circulate the planning reference number and a brief summary of how and why to object. This could be via email, or social media, word of mouth or however suits you. You could contact local health, climate, heritage or active travel groups to share it.

*Remember to share the reference number for the application so that other people can easily find it.*

Consider contacting your local councillor, as well – they might submit an objection or share with their colleagues or constituents.

Thanks for reading this blog. Adfree Cities are working to update national legislation about advertising consent, which is currently based on legislation from 2007 that pre-dates digital advertising screens. If you are a policymaker, please get in touch with our policy team at: hello@adfreecities.org.uk.

In Bristol, local volunteers have successfully blocked more than 150 new billboards from being put up in the city. From giant motorway-side screens to monolithic pavement ad units, the group’s success has inspired similar ‘Adblock’ groups across the country. Sign up to our newsletter to get involved, and you can donate here.