The Westminster City Council this week announced a clean up plan for London’s west end, which has apparently been plagued with cheap sandwich-boards and similar signs for the last few years. Such signs are now banned via new powers granted under the London Local Authorities Act, which handed warnings to companies such as Sony and McDonalds. If businesses do not comply, city inspectors will seize any offending signs; the company responsible and the individual holding the sign will be open to prosecution. The maximum penalty for is currently a £2500 fine, but punishment beyond the confiscation of signs is unlikely for the first few weeks of the crackdown but the council has reserved the right to prosecute.
Expect to see less marketing clutter in these areas:
- Queensway / Westbourne Grove
- Praed Street and around Paddington Station
- Marylebone station and surrounding streets
- Baker Street station and surrounding streets
- West End – including Oxford Street, Regent Street, around Piccadilly Circus, Shaftesbury Avenue, Cranbourn Street, Leicester Square, Charing Cross Road and Covent Garden Piazza.
- Outside Victoria Station including Terminus Place, parts of Victoria Street and Buckingham Palace Road
