Planning Committee approves 'The Wing' digital billboard at Ronaldsway

The Planning Committee has unanimously approved a large digital advertising screen, known as The Wing, beside the first roundabout on the approach to Ronaldsway Airport. Members decided the application on the morning of Monday 12 October, Manx Radio reported.

The structure will stand about 7.23 metres high. Its screen, roughly 5.1 metres wide and 2.64 metres tall, will sit in the middle of a curved frame. The application is listed as 25/00708/D.

Applicant Tim Groves, of Billboards.im, said no taxpayers’ money would be involved and the scheme would be paid for entirely by private funds, according to Isle of Man Today. He also said the airport board fully supported the project. The company’s planning statement said the billboard would give the airport a new source of income.

Mr Groves told Manx Radio the application had taken the company several years. He said that if the agreement with the airport came to an end and nobody wanted to go on maintaining the structure, it would be taken down completely.

Recommending approval, senior planning officer Jason Singleton said the design was “a high-quality piece of bespoke infrastructure rather than a standard roadside hoarding”, Isle of Man Today reported.

Conditions

Isle of Man Today said questions had been raised over whether a large digital display could distract drivers approaching the roundabout. The Department of Infrastructure’s highways division did not raise any safety concerns.

According to Manx Radio, the approval comes with several conditions:

• no moving images or special effects
• at least 10 seconds between changes of display
• brightness that adjusts automatically
• a blank black screen if the display malfunctions

The two outlets reported the limits on operating hours differently. Manx Radio said the screen must be switched off between 02:00 and 06:00 on Saturdays and Sundays, and between midnight and 06:00 on other days. Isle of Man Today reported that it may not operate outside the airport’s opening hours.

The site was described as barren land well away from homes, Manx Radio said. The committee considered the billboard a positive addition to the airport grounds and judged the conditions appropriate.

Images of the design drew a good deal of comment when they first appeared online. Speaking about the design, committee member Helen Hughes said: “People will get used to it and won’t be as shocked as at the start,” Manx Radio reported.