A DIGITAL advertising board can go on a busy petrol station forecourt after Welsh Government claims it would distract drivers were dismissed.

The 1.4m wide and 2.4m high free standing “D6 display board” was proposed for the entrance to the Larkfield Esso petrol station on Newport Road, Chepstow, but rejected by Monmouthshire Council due to the concerns of the Welsh Government, the highway authority for the A48, where there had ben two accidents in the previous year.

Advertising firm Wildstone Estates appealed the decision to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales and an independent inspector ruled in its favour after visiting the forecourt and observing the “already visually busy environment”.

The inspector said there were “a substantial number of advertisements, including freestanding, wall-mounted, and building-mounted signs associated with the petrol station and neighbouring commercial units”, while a freestanding ATM and a self-service locker “all contributed to an overtly commercial active environment”

The addition of the digital advertisement “would not encroach into or alter the character of the wider, predominantly residential area” when viewed against the forecourt and other signage, he said.

His report added: “Visibility is good, and local road conditions are not unusually complex or hazardous. In my view, they do not demand more than reasonable care and attention from drivers or pedestrians.

“The proposed digital sign would be seen within an already visually busy environment. In this context, it would not appear intrusive or out of place, but would read as a continuation of the established commercial character. As such, it would not present as a sudden or unexpected distraction to passing drivers.”

Five conditions were imposed with the permission which sets the minimum display time for each advert as 10 seconds, requires all images to be “entirely static” with no moving images, animation or video, no messaging can be spread across more than one screen image in sequence, and the intensity of the illumination will also be controlled.