EastLink: Maple Media loses VCAT appeal to put a giant billboard in Ringwood facing toll road
There are plenty of signs and billboards on EastLink to keep motorists informed but this latest proposal in Ringwood proved a step too far. Here’s why.
Outer East
Don't miss out on the headlines from Outer East. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Motorists have been spared from more potentially distracting advertisements on EastLink after a bid to install a new giant billboard was refused.
Maple Media wanted to put the billboard next to a small group of businesses in an industrial estate on Ringwood’s Eugene Crescent, facing the toll road.
The billboard was set to reach 9.6m and be installed on four 5.3m steel poles, flicking between static ads every 30 seconds.
But EastLink operator ConnectEast wasn’t keen on the plan and neither was Maroondah Council, which initially rejected the proposal.
Both were concerned the sign would detract from the driver experience, affect the amenity of the area and “add to visual clutter”.
An existing billboard faces out onto the freeway near Palmerston Rd, 160m away.
Maple Media appealed the decision at VCAT and its member Alison Glynn handed down her decision on August 13.
Ms Glynn affirmed the council’s decision not to grant a permit but said the proposed billboard’s proximity to others was not the key reason in her refusal.
Instead, she felt the billboard would “create visual disorder and a loss of amenity” along the toll road, and impact on nearby landscaping.
Ms Glynn also said the billboard would draw more attention on the industrial estate and its “utilitarian and somewhat existing cluttered environs”.
“I therefore cannot substantiate that the design is responsive to its setting or the broader setting sought for the EastLink corridor,” she said.
“In short, I find the sign only makes a bad situation worse and therefore consider the proposal unacceptable.”
MORE: CHILDCARE CENTRE TO REPLACE ABANDONED CHURCH
MAROONDAH’S ACTIVE COVID CASES GETTING LOWER