If you can't beat them, join them - Fringe bosses double flyposter sites

Published on Sunday 1 August 2010 17:32

THE number of official festival flyposting sites in Edinburgh is to be doubled following the success of a pilot project to tackle the long-running menace, The Scotsman can reveal.

More than 900 sites have been authorised for legal advertising by the city council this month under a joint project with a major postering firm, which also removes illegal flyposting from around the city.

Officials have given the go-ahead for the rolling out of new circular poster drums, temporary fencing and advertising boards to be attached on to railings at sites across the city centre.

Major new sites have been created on St Andrew Square, Market Street, Chambers Street, the Teviot and Bristo areas, Castle Terrace and the Grassmarket, while other sites deployed last year, such as in and around the Meadows, Pleasance, and the Cowgate, have been expanded.

They have also won agreement with the firm which has been given permission to run the sites that it will remove illegal flyposters and graffiti around the city centre. Edinburgh-based City Centre Posters has been working with the Fringe to offer deals for as little as 50 for ten A3 posters to cash-strapped performers and venues after monitoring of last year's experiment.

Council officials expect this year's initiative to save taxpayers in the region of 100,000, almost half the council's annual bill for tackling flyposting. It has been unveiled just before the vast majority of Fringe venues open their doors for previews on Wednesday.

The local authority has struggled to control flyposting as the Fringe has grown dramatically over the last ten years, with the Royal Mile hosting the only official postering sites until last year, when a number of temporary advertising spots were approved by the council.

The initiative was created after the council was forced to introduce emergency measures to clean up the city after a major industrial dispute flared between the authority and its teams of refuse workers and street cleaners.

Officials hailed the experiment as a "huge success", with few major problems with illegal flyposting, and have spent months working with City Centre Posters and the Fringe to expand the operation this year.

A spokeswoman for the city council said: "Designated advertising boards have now been positioned around the city centre in prime locations providing legal and affordable advertising space for festival shows and venues.

"After last year's success, the amount of sites has been doubled with around 900 sites this year. There are several types of advertising space available, including circular drums, triangular fencing, lamppost columns, hoarding on railings and new totem wraps on lamp-posts."

Robert Aldridge, environment leader at the council, said: "I'm delighted that this forward-thinking initiative is to be rolled out again.

"It was such a huge success, and really is a win-win situation for everyone involved. It keeps the city looking clean and colourful during the festival season and enables shows to have prime advertising space in the city centre.

"This will also allow our environmental wardens to continue with the many other important aspects of their jobs and not just to be consumed with removing illegally-sited posters and following up associated complaints."

Dave Tanner, operations manager at City Centre Posters, said: "It was a bit of an unknown quantity for everyone last year, which was very much a trial for this kind of thing in Edinburgh, but it went incredibly well and it soon became apparent that we couldn't keep up with demand for sites.

"We will have ten full-time staff installing and monitoring the sites, and then cleaning them down.

"We don't just have the one format for posters, which makes things affordable for even one-man shows or small companies, which we know the Fringe was very keen on."

In numbers

250k The amount spent tackling flyposting problems every year by the City of Edinburgh Council.

100k The amount estimated to be saved by this year's official festival flyposting initiative.

2,453 The number of different shows at the Festival-Fringe this year.

21,148 The number of performers due to take the stage in Fringe productions this month.

50 The cheapest official flyposting deal on offer by City Centre Posters.

165 The average cost of producing 500 full-colour A3 posters.

900 The number of flyposting sites sanctioned by the council this month.