Visual clutter was one of the reasons given by An Bord Pleanála for refusing planning permission to developers McGarrell O'Reilly for an advertising billboard on the M1 at Gormanstown, Co Meath.

The billboard was for City North Business Campus. Another reason given was that it would cause a distraction to motorists travelling at high speed.

The developer has two other proposals to erect billboards on the M1 on appeal with the board. These were all refused planning permission by Meath County Council who said they would set a precedent for further similar signs. According to a report by An Bord Pleanála's inspector, Meath County Council generally discourage independent commercial signs and free standing hoardings on major routes in their development plan, a view supported by the NRA.

History doesn't relate what was to be on the billboard but, if the local authorities and An Bord Pleanála are getting tough on large posters on busy roads because they pose a distraction, it might really spell the end for billboards depicting luscious babes and chiselled hunks outside residential developments. But then one person's visual clutter is another's visual feast.