Bristol City Council urged to ditch M32 billboards

Residents say they're impacting their sleep and distracting to drivers

Electronic billboards by the M32 have been labelled a nuisance by residents and a distraction to drivers
Author: James DiamondPublished 7th Dec 2021

Two electronic billboards overlooking the M32 have been labelled a "daily nightmare" by nearby residents, who have started a campaign to get them removed.

A petition run by Adblock Bristol has been signed more than 1,600 times and will be handed in to Bristol City Council today, ahead of a full council meeting this evening.

We recently caught up with Charlotte Gage one of those behind it, to find out about the campaign.

"Adblock Bristol have been working since 2017 on reducing advertising sites across Bristol," she said.

"The reason that we're focussing specifically on these two screens beside the M32, is because we did some research on people who live locally there.

"We gathered over 100 testimonials of people who live local to those screens and it impacted them on a daily basis."

Charlotte says residents have complained of the billboards keeping them awake because the light is too bright and shines through their bedroom windows at night time.

Another has complained that it impacts their medical condition, while drivers have raised safety concerns saying their brightness can be a significant distraction at night, especially in the rain.

Charlotte also says the presence of the billboards goes against the values of the community in Easton.

"That particular area in Easton is very multicultural...the reality is that the advertising that's seen on these billboards has nothing to do with the local community, nothing to do with local businesses, it doesn't support the local community in any way.

"It's usually for huge, big brands, big businesses that are outside Bristol, that are multi-nationals and are advertising things that local people often can't afford, but also don't want and are not interested in."

She added that the road safety issue is a big one.

"We always argue that road safety is hugely impacted by the screen being digital, and also changing images, which is much more distracting and much more dangerous than a normal billboard with paper adverts.

"We think that the whole idea of these digital billboards being next to roads, which is normally where they are because they're used to advertise to drivers, is ridiculous because if you're trying to distract people from looking at the road and being safe at driving, then that is a safety issue immediately.

"So none of them should be allowed really."

The campaigners have written an open letter to Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees, which you can read here.

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