Agenda item

Agenda item

Small Format Advertising - Council Influence on Adverts Displayed on Council Assets

Report of the Strategic Director – Development

 

This reports provides a summary of the council's position to ensure that inappropriate content is not displayed through the advertising estate. The report also summarises how the council intends to engage the market through the procurement process in order to find the appropriate supplier to operate the small format advertising estate.

 

Minutes:

The Sub Group considered the report of the Strategic Director, Development that provided a summary of the Council's position to ensure that inappropriate content was not displayed through the advertising estate. The report also summarised how the Council intended to engage the market through the procurement process in order to find the appropriate supplier to operate the small format advertising estate.

 

The main points and themes within the report included: -

 

·                The context in which the Strategic Director, Development had been asked to provide an assurance that the Council would not be supportive of any advertising that celebrated inappropriate conduct and what the Council could do through the procurement process to influence advertisers who wished to use Council owned land;

·                Providing information on the scale of the current small format advertising contract;

·                An update on the ambition to generate income from this estate from 2020;

·                Information on the guidance as set out by the Advertising Standards Agency to ensure that adverts are legal, decent, honest and truthful and consumer confidence was maintained;

·                The additional criteria expected by the Council to ensure that the Council would not be seen to be promoting anything that would be out of line with its ethos; and

·                An update on the procurement process.

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Sub Group’s discussions were: -

 

·                How long had the previous contract been in existence and what would the duration of any new contract be;

·                Consideration should be given to sharing the advertising criteria which would be agreed by any supplier in order to control the type of advertisements with other Greater Manchester Authorities as an example of good practice;

·                Noting that clarification was required to determine which organisations associated with the Authority or Greater Manchester Local Authorities were being referred to in the list of criteria;

·                Noting that the wording of all of the criteria needed to be reviewed to ensure it was succinct so as to avoid duplication and more specific, as some of the wording was open to a wide variety of interpretations;

·                Noting that the Council has no influence on what could be displayed on screens or boards on private land or other platforms that have approved planning permission on the adopted highway such as the BT Inlink stations.

·                Consideration should be given to using the digital advertising boards to promote relevant local community events and to promote the wider cultural offer and library service in the City; and

·                Had any complaints been received to date regarding the subject matter advertised, either directly to the Council or to the Advertising Standards Agency.

 

The Head of Commissioning and Delivery informed Members that the small format advertising contract currently covered 99 sites across the city centre, owned and maintained by JC Decaux and the contract was a legacy contract that was 26 years old. He reassured the Members that although any new contract would not be awarded for such a length of time, throughout this period JC Decaux had complied with all of the requirements of the contract and that no complaints had been received. He said that any future contract would be for a 15 year period, awarded using the Ethical Procurement Policy and the contract would be monitored.

 

In response to the comments regarding the wording of the criteria the Strategic Director, Development accepted the points raised by the Members and gave an assurance that these would be reviewed. The Contract and Commissioning Manager stated that these had been produced following the examples provided by Transport for Greater Manchester and Nottingham County Council and welcomed the feedback from the Members. He said that they would work closely with any supplier to ensure that any agreed criteria was adhered to. 

 

The Strategic Director, Development advised there was evidence to indicate that BT Inlink stations were associated with anti-social behaviour and crime and in effect operated as advertising boards. He said work was ongoing to address this issue as these installations were outside of planning requirements.

 

The Executive Member for Finance and Human Resources noted the comments regarding incorporating the advertising of local community events, noting that this could be part of the social value element of any contract awarded. The Head of Commissioning and Delivery advised that it was already agreed that a percentage of advertising time would dedicated to promoting Council campaigns. The Chair stated that the timing of any such adverts needed to be at an appropriate time of the day to maximise their effectiveness and that the contract would need to make provision for this. 

 

The Executive Member for Finance and Human Resources stated that he noted the comments expressed by Members regarding the subject matter of adverts and the requirement that they should adhere to the values of the Council, stating that a correct balance would be met to maximise this important revenue stream.

 

Decisions

 

The Sub Group;

 

(1)       Recommend that there should be no promotion of sexual entertainment venues displayed through the advertising estate;

 

(2)       Recommend that the proposed criteria to be set by the Council which will be agreed by the supplier in order for them to control the type of advertisements is to be reviewed;

 

(3)       Recommend that once agreed, the proposed criteria to be set by the Council which will be agreed by the supplier in order for them to control the type of advertisements is shared with other Greater Manchester Authorities to promote good practice;  

 

(4)       Recommend that clarification was obtained to determine which organisations associated with the Authority or Greater Manchester Local Authorities were being referred to in the list of criteria; and

 

(5)       Recommend that the Communications Team work with the appointed supplier to advertise local community events and the wider cultural offer in an appropriate manner.

Supporting documents: