Coincidently, I’ve had two calls recently from people who have ‘bumped up against’ council’s signage regulations. The two situations were quite different, but the problematic regulation was effectively the same.
The simple fact is that signage, as defined under the NSW Standard Instrument, the template for all NSW Local Environmental Plans (LEPs), is prohibited under both the Queanbeyan and Palerang LEPs in essentially all but commercial and industrial areas. Nonetheless, the Exempt and Complying Development Codes State Environmental Planning Policy (the so-called Codes SEPP), an overriding piece of legislation, exempts certain types of signage from this prohibition, so lets look at the details here.
One resident was in the process of selling his property and, as is often the case in our rural areas, the property was located on a road that did not carry through traffic. As such, it seemed quite logical that a sign located at the intersection of his road with a connecting through road, might well attract the attention of more potential purchasers, all the more so because there were already several signs advertising real estate in exactly this way at the intended location.
Few of us would think this an unreasonable idea, or imagine that this might not be acceptable practice, given the number of real estate signs or various boards advertising businesses or local events that we see around, in our rural areas in particular. The unfortunate reality, however, is that many of these are actually illegal, although quite clearly under legislation that is not very actively enforced. Enforcement almost invariably only occurs following a complaint. Council is then obliged to take appropriate action, which, in the first instance, is usually just to request that the signage be removed or moved to a permitted location.
In the present case, the resident wasn’t actually complaining about the existing signs, nor did he want them removed, he just wanted his real estate agent to be permitted to display a sign in the same location—being aware of the applicable regulations, his real estate agent had advised that this was not possible. Unfortunately, none of the signs were actually permitted, and council’s only option was to seek removal of them all.
To comply with Division 2, Subdivision 12 of the Codes SEPP, and thus be permitted without council consent, a real estate advertisement must, amongst other specific requirements, be located on the property for sale or on the site of the property for sale.
The second case arose during the lead-up to our recent federal election. In this case, the resident lived in an urban area and had placed an electoral advertising sign in his front yard.
To be exempt from council approval, however, even election signage must comply with the standards articulated in the Codes SEPP, in this case those under Division 2, Subdivision 13. These not only relate to the size and location of the sign, but also to timing, relative to the date of the election involved—five weeks before the date of the election, and one week after.
In the present case, the sign was ‘somewhat larger’ than was permissible under the SEPP, and the resident received notice from council to address the matter—remove the sign or seek formal development approval. The resident thought it was ridiculous that council would go to the trouble of writing a formal letter requesting that a sign be removed when it was obvious that the sign was only temporary in any case.
At this point it’s worth noting again that council’s action only followed receipt of a complaint. In such cases, regardless of how trivial the prohibited activity may appear to be, council staff are obliged to investigate and, if necessary, issue directions or take action in relation to that activity.