Estate agency boards have returned to the streets of conservation areas in London’s Kensington and Chelsea after a 15-year ban expired.
The re-emergence of the For Sale and To Let signs in some of London’s finest streets have prompted fury among local residents.
Agents said the streets could be fairly targeted after the lapsing of the Regulation 7 restrictions first imposed in 1995, and said that once one firm put boards back up, the others had to follow or risk losing business.
It emerged that Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council wanted to renew the ban but there had been disagreement over how extensive it should be. Last year, it applied to extend the ban to 80% of its area, but the Secretary of State refused permission.
Other London boroughs, including Hammersmith and Fulham, Camden and Westminster, have also sought Regulation 7 controls.
Meanwhile the reappearance of boards in Kensington and Chelsea from the likes of Hamptons, Savills, Marsh & Parsons and Foxtons has prompted heritage groups to call for a blanket ban across the whole of central London.
Amanda Frame, chairman of the Kensington Society, said: “The more the boards go up, the more it shows they need to be controlled. The agents are cutting their own throats by putting them back up. It blights all areas, not just those with conservation status.”
Ian Dungavell, director of the Victorian Society, said the boards were “an anachronism” in the internet era.
The conservationists have an unlikely ally – in the form of an estate agent.
Ed Mead, of Douglas & Gordon, said: “My view is very strongly that boards should be banned – period.
“I think they are a blight and they are just used to advertise the agency. Why on earth, at a cost of £6 a board, should an agent be able to blight a street when everything is done on the web these days?
“A ban would get rid of much of the stigma attached to the estate agency industry.”
Personally I can't help but smile when I see David's new boards (above), they certainly brighten up any street - they match the shop wall paper in case you hadn't noticed.
Hope you're not 'board' reading this - Until the next time.
Mr J
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