Bus Shelter, Pavement Outside 160 London Borough of Tower Hamlets Town Hall, Whitechapel Road, London, E1

PA/26/00408/NCAdvertisement ConsentRefused

Refused on 21 May 2026

Council decision: RefuseDelegated (officer decision)1 reason for refusal

Approximate location: the centre of the postcode, not the exact property.

Proposal

Display of a double sided internally illuminated LCD screen to display content with automatic rotation of images at the existing bus shelter, freestanding.

Received: 26 March 2026
Decision level: Delegated (officer decision)
Council: London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Ward: Whitechapel
Agent: JCDecaux UK Ltd

ReceivedReceived26 Mar
ValidatedValidated26 Mar
Consult.Consultation1 May
TargetTarget Date21 May
DecidedDecided21 May

Decided in 56 days (council typically 56)

About this application

This is an advertising consent application at Bus Shelter, Pavement Outside 160 London Borough of Tower Hamlets Town Hall, Whitechapel Road, London, E1. Tower Hamlets has handled 263 applications of this type. This one was decided in 56 days. The site is in the Whitechapel High Street conservation area, with 5 listed buildings nearby. There are no previous applications recorded at this address. In the past year there have been 134 applications across Whitechapel.

85% of advertising applications at London Borough of Tower Hamlets were approved. Across all application types, the council typically decides in about 8 weeks (median).

Based on decided applications received in the last 3 years.Planning something similar? See what gets approved on your street

Why it was refused

- The proposal would introduce animated content within an existing digital advertisement display in a highly sensitive heritage location within the Former London Hospital Conservation Area and in the immediate setting of the Grade II listed former London Hospital (aka the Tower Hamlets Town Hall). The introduction of motion would materially increase the visual prominence of the display, drawing attention away from the listed building in key views and detracting from its architectural primacy, resulting in less than substantial harm to its setting and failing to preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area. The proposal is therefore contrary to Policies S.DH3 and D.DH10 of the Tower Hamlets Local Plan 2031 and is unacceptable in terms of amenity, contrary to Regulation 3 of the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007.

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Application type: Advertisement Consent
Scale / size: Small

Planning application dates

Date validated: 26 March 2026
Consultation expiry: 1 May 2026
Consultation end: 1 May 2026
Target decision date: 21 May 2026

Applicant and agent

Agent: JCDecaux UK Ltd
Agent address: 991 GREAT WEST ROAD, BRENTFORD, TW8 9DN

Planning decision

Statutory period: 56 days

Publicity

Site notice start: 9 April 2026

Additional information

Comments: 0
Documents: 11

Site constraints

Checking the site

2/3

Council recordsAppealsFlood risk

Designations at the address point. Ones next to the site may also apply.

Conservation area: Whitechapel High Street
Heritage at Risk Register: Whitechapel High Street, Aldgate
Flood zone 1: Low probability (rivers and sea)

Also checked, none recorded (22)

flood storage areas, listed buildings, Article 4 directions, tree preservation orders, green belt, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, World Heritage Site buffer zones, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, nutrient neutrality catchments, national parks, National Landscapes, SSSIs, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites, ancient woodland, national nature reserves, local nature reserves, heritage coasts and brownfield registers.

A guide only, from official open data; it is not a planning search. Flood zones cover rivers and sea, not surface water.

Data © Crown copyright and others · sources and licences

Contains public sector information from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG and local planning authorities), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The Historic England GIS Data contained in this material was obtained on 2026-11-03. The most publicly available up to date Historic England GIS Data can be obtained from HistoricEngland.org.uk.

Planning history at this site

5 other applications at this property, newest first.

Source: Tower Hamlets

Contains public sector information from the Planning London Datahub, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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