Two digital Nottingham adverts have won consent on appeal on Daleside Road, but they must show static images without transition effects. Inspector Eleni Marshall allowed the appeal on 15th October 2026, overturning Nottingham City Council’s refusal for a commercial forecourt.
The approved displays are back-to-back, with each advertising face measuring about three metres high by six metres wide. Their supporting posts bring the overall height to about six metres. Consent lasts five years from the decision, and each advertisement must remain on screen for at least 10 seconds.
For anyone living, working or driving nearby, the distinction is between changing still advertisements and video. I would read the operating condition alongside the approval: the Inspector’s safety assessment relied on restrictions that prevent moving images and transition effects.
Why the Nottingham adverts were accepted
The site is on the south side of Daleside Road, within the forecourt of business premises. The Inspector described the surrounding area as predominantly commercial, with varied business signs, building designs and activity. It is also beside a main road with street lighting.
The scheme replaces existing freestanding roadside hoardings and directional signage previously granted consent. Although the illuminated advertising area would be larger, the Inspector did not consider that size difference decisive when assessed against this particular setting.
Illumination and changing advertisements would create some contrast with unilluminated signs nearby. However, the decision found that the commercial surroundings could accommodate that contrast without the displays becoming visually intrusive in a way that justified refusal.
This is a useful point for sign operators and neighbouring businesses. The Nottingham adverts were assessed against the actual character of the location, including its existing movement, lighting and signage. The decision does not establish that a display of the same dimensions would be acceptable on a quieter residential street or in a different landscape.
The Inspector found compliance with Policy DE5 of Nottingham’s Local Plan Part 2, which addresses matters including the scale, position, character, illumination and design of advertisements. That finding concerned the proposal before her and the circumstances she observed.
Highway advice mattered
Daleside Road has two traffic lanes in each direction and a 40mph speed limit. The relevant stretch is essentially straight. The decision also records that the site is not close to a junction or roundabout of the sort that might place additional demands on a driver’s attention.
The highway authority had not objected to the proposal on highway-safety grounds. The Inspector acknowledged the council’s comments but found its explanation for disagreeing with the highway consultee limited. That does not mean specialist advice automatically determines an appeal, but the reasons for departing from it need to withstand scrutiny.
For the Nottingham adverts, the operating restrictions were central to the conclusion. The Inspector was satisfied that a changing static display would not hold drivers’ attention in the way a video display might in this setting. With the condition in place, she found no unnecessary distraction harmful to highway or pedestrian safety.
The decision describes the required operation as static images only
. This short quotation is from the Planning Inspectorate’s decision, published as Crown copyright material under the Open Government Licence. The full condition also excludes transition effects and requires the minimum display interval.
I would be careful about treating a consented digital screen as permission to run any format the equipment can technically support. The legal control concerns how it operates, as well as where it stands. A compliant installation needs its content settings to reflect the actual condition.
A further highways condition was rejected
The council had suggested another condition for the Nottingham adverts requiring damaged or altered areas of public highway, including redundant accesses, to be reinstated before occupation of the development. The Inspector found limited justification for that restriction on the evidence before her and did not impose it.
The Nottingham adverts consent nevertheless remains subject to the five standard conditions in the advertisement regulations, alongside the additional static-display condition. The Inspector expressly reminded the appellant to take account of those standard requirements.
This distinction matters when reading an appeal decision. A suggested condition in a council’s submission is not necessarily an operative condition. The controlling requirements are those attached to the consent, read with the relevant standard conditions, rather than every restriction proposed during the appeal.
What happens next
The appeal, reference 6015651, was brought by Richard Wilson of Bauer Media Outdoor concerning application 26/00820/ADV2. It grants express advertisement consent. It is not evidence that installation has already happened, and the decision does not provide an installation programme.
Businesses considering Nottingham adverts elsewhere should compare the road layout, existing character, visibility and proposed operating arrangements rather than rely on a shared postcode or display size. For affected neighbours, those same details help explain why a particular scheme has been approved and what its limits are.
You can read the complete official appeal decision, including the condition. Our planning appeals guide explains the wider appeal process. Neither the approval nor this report establishes that a separate costs award was made; no separate costs decision is listed on the official case record.
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