A group of Lisbon residents accuse El Corte Inglés of not complying with advertising regulations and of ‘flouting’ a City Council order requiring screens to be kept on with static projection after 8:00 p.m.
“The negative impacts that this commercial space has caused to residents, especially during festive dates or sales periods” had been denounced by the group of residents in February 2023, when they complained, at a meeting of the Lisbon City Council (CML) of “Noise pollution, visual pollution and worsening parking problems.”caused by that commercial space.
Residents’ spokesman Paulo Cintra Gomes warned at the time of the situation of “visual pollution” due to the intense light projected by the advertising screens, one of which was large, and proposed turning off or turning off the screens with a static image on a black background.
In January of this year, Lisbon City Council has issued an order with rules that will apply to digital advertising panels.stating that “the projection must remain static” between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
“On panels measuring more than 150 square metres and visible from properties with a housing licence located at a distance of less than 100 metres, the projection must remain static with dark backgrounds, in the period between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. The luminosity cannot exceed 60 lumens,” said the Councillor for the Economy, Diogo Moura (CDS-PP), at a public meeting of the executive.
In an email sent to the CML, the residents now accuse the commercial space of violating the order, since, despite having “started to broadcast a static image on a dark background from 8 p.m. onwards,” that same image “is, after all, broadcast between 8:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. there are several peaks of intensity.”
After the advertising panels were “turned off” at the beginning of the month, the neighbors now warn that, “after all, The large digital panel was eventually replaced by a smaller one, “which is issued with renewed force until 24:00 hours.”
Paulo Cintra Gomes explained in the communication sent to the municipality that the screen “emits flashes, rhythmic, bright, contrasting, violent images, which project an intense light, white, red, blue, yellow, violet, green, pink, orange, violet that invades the street, houses and buildings of the neighbors.”
With these dimensions “it is clear that there is no need to comply with the rules of Despacho No. 9/P/2024, neither the programming, nor the timetable, nor the luminosity, nor the distance to the property with the habitation license”, stated the resident. , considering that “This is how you get to” the CML order and the municipality’s “intentions” are “subverted.”
Considering the situation “unacceptable”, residents defend the urgent need for a new Regulation for the Occupation of Public Space and Advertising (ROEPP) and support moving forward with a referendum on the creation of protection zones for the population.
In January, the Councillor for Economy had clarified that according to the legal framework “these digital panels placed on facades do not have a municipal licence, therefore the council cannot issue a licence, (…) it cannot prohibit them”.
Diogo Moura also reported that The city council is working on changing the regulations on the occupation of public spacewhich will be next to the advertising board, dating from 1992, which does not address the issue of lighting and digital panels.
Lusa has attempted to obtain a comment from Lisbon City Hall, but has so far been unsuccessful.
Source: Observadora
