ABSTRACT
T His Act, which came into force on 1st July 1948, has already had an effect on the outdoor advertising industry * . It has brought about not only a change in the day-to-day working of the contractors' business but also a difference in the industry's attitude to its own activities. Of course, certain contractors had already started to improve their sites and the passing of this Act only made obligatory what was in many cases already being done. The benefits that accrue in theory from a policy of decentralization have, it seems, had a somewhat unfortunate effect in the application of the Act. Each contracting firm and each of its branches is obliged to deal with local planning authorities, and therefore administration and paper work have been multiplied. Because, too, each local planning authority is bound only by its own interpretation of the regulations, there is as yet no general understanding of the meaning of the vital word ‘amenity’. The outdoor advertising industry has clearly seen the dangers and difficulties that may arise from this diversity of opinion and the consequent variations in the application of the Act in different parts of the country. The industry has set up a committee known as The Outdoor Advertising Industry Advisory Committee which is doing extremely valuable work in putting the industry's views before Local Planning Officers. There have been held about the country a number of meetings to which Planning officers have been invited, and where very full and frank discussions have taken place. It is hoped that by these means Planning officers, who are permanent officials charged with the execution of the Act, will gradually evolve general principles and practices, so that as a result the application of the Act in different parts of the country will have more uniformity.
