Estate agents’ signs a blight?

Are all those estate agents’ signs that line our local roads really what they seem? Or are they just free advertising, exploiting the goodwill of residents and councils? Some councils ban such signs entirely. Elmbridge Borough Council seems to be more lenient.

Two signs have been displayed prominently in Thames Street, Weybridge, attached to a telegraph pole on private land, for 15 months after the advertised properties were sold and let.

That’s 15 months during which these signs have been blown down in gales and somehow reappeared, become tatty and somehow been refreshed.

It appears that estate agents have teams who go around re-erecting their unpaid advertisements on private property in our local residential roads until someone actively stops them.

Is it time to put an end to this abuse, and free our streets from the clutter of roadside advertising?

Hammersmith & Fulham Council has a blanket ban on signs put up without written council permission, and prosecutes estate agents who offend. Should Elmbridge do the same?

Would you prefer a ban on all roadside Estate Agent signs, or a  requirement for written consent from the Council together with meaningful  fines for overstaying legitmate use?