MOTORISTS and pedestrians would be hard-pressed not to notice the tattered advertising banners that are clinging for dear life to railings at the junction of the Suffolk Road and Stewartstown Road.
The Andersonstown News has received several phone calls, emails and letters demanding that action be taken to remove the offending posters or for whoever put them up o take them back down as they have become a blight on the local area.
The hanging of advertising material in public spaces and by the roadside has long been a legal grey area which has been taken advantage of by shops and businesses throughout the city. But new legislation means that Belfast and Lisburn councils have at long last got a handle on the problem. SDLP Councillor Tim Attwood told the Andersonstown News that he has received numerous complaints about fly-posting in and around the West and at the Kennedy Way roundabout in particular.
“The sight of posters hanging in tatters on fences and fly-posting on walls is a blight not only at the bottom of the Suffolk Road but across West Belfast,” he said. “However, it is very welcome that from next month, the Clean Neighbourhoods Environmental Act will give councils greater powers to deal with this illegal activity that blights many areas of the city. We will be able to issue an £80 fixed penalty notice to those that affix posters – previously we had no powers to do this,” he said.
“We will be able to serve premises that fly-post with a two-day removal notice to remove fly-posters that advertise their venue [previously it was a 14 day removal notice]. If they do not remove the posters the council will have the power to remove the posters and pursue the venue owner for the removal costs.”
