An electronic advertising sign will be erected on Great Eastern Highway after it was approved at the recent Northam Shire council meeting.
Private equity investment company Espin Capital was successful in its application after Shire president Steven Pollard used his casting vote to support the single-sided 22 metre squared (2.5m by 8.8m) sign to be built on Great Eastern Highway.
Under the approved guidelines, it is not allowed any flashing or moving light, video or animation and will only display messages in text or pictures
Councillors John Proud, Rob Tinetti, Ulo Rumjantsev, Chris Davidson and Des Hughes voted for the application with fellow councillors Pollard, Denis Beresford, Terry Little, Julie Williams and Chris Antonio voting against the application.
At the meeting Cr Proud said the president should have allowed the status quo to remain when using his casting vote.
Cr Pollard rejected this notion and said his casting vote had been used in support of the officer's recommendation.
The sign will be located at 3484 Great Eastern Highway, Copley near El Caballo and will be switched on from 5am-10pm.
Under the approved guidelines, it is not allowed any flashing or moving light, video or animation and will only display messages in text or pictures.
Safety issues were raised with the application due to fears it would distract drivers and that it would impact on the visual amenity of the area.
Espin Capital hired transport engineers and road safety auditors to assess the safety risk of the sign.
The road safety auditors said the sign would, in their view, posed little if any safety risk to road users and recommended it be granted approval from a traffic safety perspective.
Main Roads was also consulted and did not object to the proposal.
In terms of impacting the visual amenity of the area, officers reasoned that although LED illumination was not typically associated with a rural setting they believed the sign will not be detrimental to the existing rural character of the area.
The advertising material will change as required based on the campaign.