“Bikes-for-Billboards” scheme exposes major planning flaws
It sounded like a fairytale, yet what was initially hailed as “free bikes” has become one of the biggest planning controversies to hit the capital in years.
It sounded like a fairytale, yet what was initially hailed as “free bikes” has become one of the biggest planning controversies to hit the capital in years.
The agreement between Dublin City Council and international advertising company JC Decaux to provide rental bicycles in exchange for advertising space estimated to be worth €1 million annually is a “dodgy deal”,
The French scheme was introduced 18 months ago with 20,000 bicycles, but 7,800 have already been stolen and 1 1,600 have been vandalised or damaged,
Fresh controversy erupted over Dublin’s “billboards for bikes” scheme after one of the new advert panels became an instant traffic hazard.
A popular architectural website has branded Dublin City Council’s new on-street advertising panels “an unmitigated disaster”. The website, Archiseek, now wants the council to halt the installation of the free-standing billboards pending a review and investigation.
Dublin City Council should make public a contract in which advertising space is being exchanged for bicycles, a politician has said.
Dublin’s “free bike scheme” for its citizens has encountered an unexpected obstacle. It has emerged that the city council will be liable for accidents caused by the billboards that have been erected on the capital’s streets as part of the scheme,
Archiseek, Ireland’s architectural discussion website, has added its voice to calls on Dublin City Council to halt the erection of free-standing advertising panels on footpaths in the city pending a review and investigation.
An Bord Pleanála has refused permission for 18 advertising panels, which were to be erected as part of the Dublin city bike rental scheme,