Green party councillor wants to chop down this forest of signs

By JAMES ALDRIDGE Local democracy reporter

A GREEN party councillor is calling for action over what he says is a forest of nuisance estate agency signs across Reading.

While estate agents are able to use boards outside homes that are for sale or to let, it is felt that in some areas, with high resident turnover, these can turn into excessive numbers.

At a recent council meeting, Cllr David McElroy highlighted parts of his ward, Redlands in East Reading. The area is popular with students on short tenancies due to the University of Reading being close by, with a high number of signs in Erleigh Road, Addington Road, Blenheim Road and Cardigan Road.

Responding, Cllr Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley), lead councillor for planning, said a voluntary agreement between the council and estate agents could be reached, similar to one made back in 2014.

Cllr McElroy pointed out that the situation has declined since then, with Cllr Leng replying that estate agent permission to advertise ‘to let’ signs could be revoked by applying to the government for a ‘Regulation 7 Direction’ which would remove discretionary consent for such advertising.

The issue of the ‘forest’ of estate agent signs has also been raised by Cllr Will Cross (Labour, Redlands) who called the signage ‘a nuisance’. He said he had conducted an