‘Permits needed’ for digital advertising boards, French ad giant told in court
Melbourne has secured a small legal win in a prolonged fight to stop advertising behemoth JCDecaux installing digital screens alongside payphones without a permit.
City of Melbourne has secured a small victory in its prolonged fight to stop advertising behemoth JCDecaux from installing digital advertising screens alongside underused payphones.
The French media company appealed the council’s decision to refuse 81 planning applications for telephone cabinets and signage in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in 2019.
The issue had been escalated to the Supreme Court, but – in a loss for the out-of-home media company – it was ruled on Tuesday that planning permissions must be granted for the signs.
“A permit is required for the development, signage and the telecommunications facility,” Supreme Court judge Michelle Quigley said.
Written orders and reasons would follow to that effect, Justice Quigley said.
During their evidence, lawyers for City of Melbourne presented a picture to the court of a payphone alongside the digital display board and said: “they are not even replacing the phones”.
“The rear of the cabinet is pretty much exclusively the screen which is about 1.5m to 2m in area,” the court heard.
Lawyers for the council asked Justice Quigley “make an order that a permit is required for the display of signage”, after VCAT has previously found planning permission is not separately required for the development of signs.
They successfully argued the tribunal made an error in that decision, and challenged it in the Supreme Court.
JCDecaux has applied for planning permits for 47 payphone cabinets that include 75 inch LCD panels that “designed and intended for use to display commercial advertising”, according to court documents.
In court documents, lawyers for Melbourne city council argued the Federal Court determined the phone booths are not a “low-impact facility … including because the function they are designed to service is the display of commercial advertising” on the 75 inch LCD panels.
“The Scheme requires planning permission be obtained for the construction or putting up for display of any and all types of signs,” court documents read.
“The Tribunal erred, or acted unreasonably or irrationally, by failing to find a planning permit was required for the development of the signs associated with the proposed structures.”
Telstra also lost its bid to get a national ruling on the issue after the Melbourne council denied the installation of signs when it bought the matter to the federal court in 2019.
It has been reported JCDecaux planned to upgrade Telstra payphones across major Australian cities including Sydney, Brisbane and Perth but councils were concerned about the move.
City of Melbourne and JCDecaux have been contacted for comment.
It comes after JCDecaux also launched an appeal in the Land and Environment Court against the City of Sydney in a bid to replace some existing phone booths for larger “smart city payphones”.
The Daily Telegraph reported the advertising company has applied to install the upgraded booths, which are set to include phone charging points and Wi-Fi, on 38 footpath locations.
While there were objections to the size of the booths, there were also objections to new digital advertising panels which are set to measure 2.73m.
The matter will now return to VCAT at a later date.
How Scottish silk became an Australian legal star
A barrister with a thick Scottish brogue who became a lawyer after falling in love with the television drama LA Law is leading one of the corporate watchdog’s biggest cases of the past decade.
Police probe NSW prosecution office over leaks
The investigation has revolved around the alleged leak by the office of the DPP to a commercial radio outlet of legally restricted information about an underage Aboriginal offender.