‘Tokyo, not Prebbleton’: Big LED billboard upsets small town locals

Thursday, 23 July 2026

Eating a bowl of corn flakes illuminated by an LED billboard is expected in Tokyo - not in small-town Prebbleton, a resident says.

That’s the reality for families whose homes face Springs Rd in Prebbleton because the Selwyn District Council “dropped the ball”, Jenny Adams says.

Adams gave the council a piece of her mind at a recent hearing, calling on it not to repeat its mistakes after granting resource consent for an LED billboard about 50 metres from a “dodgy” pedestrian crossing in an urban area.

A 9m by 3m electric sign was installed at the intersection of Springs Rd and Williams St earlier this year. It was briefly turned off following an abatement notice, but was turned back on in the past month. The billboard was not publicly notified.

“No one should have to see a digital billboard over their morning corn flakes, which is now a reality for a number of these houses,” Adams said at the council meeting. “I’m not against digital billboards - I’ve been to Tokyo - this is not what should be in Prebbleton.”

Nicola Willett lives across the road from the sign.

She has blackout curtains and has accepted the glow of the billboard will continue to illuminate her home, but she hopes other people were not subjected to signs like this in the future.

“I’m sure there are locations where they wouldn’t have anywhere near as much impact on local residents.”

Adams said the council was warned in a comprehensive signage review it commissioned in 2017 that digital signs could create adverse cumulative amenity effects, that the technology was an emerging risk, and that councils must avoid signs that cause visual dominance, glare or nuisance effects.

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency’s “best practice” regulations from a 2023 planning manual, signage should not be within 100m of urban pedestrian crossings or intersections - but that only applies to state highways.

Adams’ main gripe is that central government doesn’t have safety planning policies for digital billboards near pedestrian crossings.

She helped lead a petition to turn the Prebbleton pedestrian crossing into a light-controlled crossing. The council installed a refuge island and median strip earlier this year, but it was not enough to curb safety concerns raised by the billboard, she said.

Kā Puna Springs Ward councillor Denise Carrick said the process for the Prebbleton digital billboard was a “failure for the community” and she would push for future consent applications to be publicly notified.

“That whole process has been a disaster from start to finish and should have been publicly notified, to my mind, as the effects on the village, residents, houses, and the pedestrian crossing and safety were definitely more than ‘minor’.”

Vast Billboards’ managing director Grant Moreton told The Star in February he had received multiple letters to his home warning he will have blood on his hands due to safety concerns about the sign’s location.

Councillor Sam Wilshire said future consent applications for billboards should be notified.

A council staff proposal to erect their own digital billboards in areas such as the Selwyn Aquatic Centre in Rollestonand the West Melton Community Centre for revenue had been “put on the back burner”, he said.

Adams told The Press the Government needed to step up and implement standardised safety policies for billboards - static or otherwise - near pedestrian crossings.

“This case matters because it shows how easily digital billboards can slip through the system when the rules are permissive … and the applicant provides just enough mitigation to meet technical thresholds, even when earlier planning evidence warned of these exact risks.”

The Ministry of Transport, Selwyn District Council and Vast Billboards have been approached for comment.