The Meander Valley Council is proposing to put advertising on 17 rubbish bins in central Deloraine, in a move it says would help fund the local newspaper and give businesses a place to advertise.
Councillors will decide on the plan on Tuesday, when they sit as a planning authority during the ordinary council meeting.
The council has lodged a planning application with itself to install 26 advertising panels on bins along Emu Bay Road, East Parade and Meander Valley Road.
Each would be A1 size and display commercial advertising and community event notices.
Under the proposal, the advertising space would be managed by the ‘North & Coast Post’.
The council’s planning report says it “intends to provide the sign locations as a way to financially support the newspaper and in turn provide advertising opportunity for local businesses and community groups”.
It also acknowledges the council “does not presently have a policy or framework for the arrangement”.
Seven people made submissions on the plan, with six objecting and one in support.
Objectors argued the panels would clutter a heritage tourism town and hand control of public street furniture to commercial interests.
One said the signs should be assessed as a single advertising network rather than as minor additions to individual bins.
They argued the panels would compete with Deloraine’s arts identity and the Great Western Tiers Sculpture Trail.
Another objector said the scope of “third parties” was “potentially limitless” and urged the council to withdraw the plan and redraft it with community input.
A local business said it supported community posters but opposed commercial advertising.
It warned the space could be leased to operators with “no interest in the streetscape of Deloraine or the viability of existing businesses”.
Another objector raised concerns about political advertising appearing on council bins.
Planners have recommended the application be approved.
They said the signs were modest and spaced out, while their content was “not a planning matter beyond being identified as third party advertising”.
“It has been indicated that council, as owners of the infrastructure, would maintain oversight of the advertising displays and content and would ensure it was suitable for public viewing and consistent with community standards,” the report states.
