The company which controls Oxford's bus shelters has applied for permission to install LED digital advertisement displays. 
 
Clear Channel UK, which has a long-term contractual agreement with Oxford City Council to provide and maintain the city's bus shelters, and control its six-sheet adverts which are large poster displays.

The media and infrastructure company now wants to implement 1.5sqm digital advertising boards to modernise its displays, with the first application made for the bus shelter outside 108 London Road in Headington. 

The application said: "Digital is significantly more flexible compared to previous formats and therefore significantly more effective, and does away with the intensive manual processes of printing, flighting and on-site maintenance of traditional internally illuminated displays."

The digital displays would be slightly smaller than the current 6-sheet ads and have an in-built sensor control system to adjust to ambient lighting levels during the day and set the lighting of displays to "very low levels" at night.

They would be turned off between midnight and 5am. 

As part of its contract with the city council which lasts until 2030, Clear Channel said the new displays would provide a "significant income stream" to the council on top of business rates payments. 

The application said the advertising space would be dedicated to city council communications for 17 per cent of the display time, and provide an extended display space for council campaigns promoting ULEZ and ZEZ policies, as well as for campaigns from Oxford charities. 

A consultation on the advertisement plans is open on Oxford City Council's planning portal until April 23.