AN idea to use billboards to subsidise sprucing up Newcastle's entry points has been shot down in flames with one councillor calling the proposal "crass".
City of Newcastle staff will review existing gateway signage and develop designs for new ones after Liberal councillors Jenny Barrie and Callum Pull raised concerns the city's entry points were looking old, tired and forgettable.
The pair suggested revenue from billboard advertising could solely be used for better welcome signage, landscaping, maintenance and road improvements.
Greens councillor Joel Pringle was one of many councillors who took a strong stance against installing billboards to make extra cash.
"I can't support the crassness of plastering our city with enough advertising billboards to fund the works," he said.
"God help us, thinking about how many billboards that would need to be to fund the works."
Councillors identified Thomas Street at Wallsend, City Road near Adamstown and Maitland Road at Hexham among other key roads in need of a facelift.
Cr Pull said Newcastle only gets one chance to make a first impression and said at the moment, areas of the city's presentation are lacking.
"This is an opportunity for our city to improve its presentation on our main roads and entrances, and to create some iconic signage which helps us stand out to make our city proud, and improve the presentation and appeal of our local government area," he said.
"Right now, you come into town past really tall grass and grey concrete, and then you get to the city where there's beautiful sandstone buildings like our own City Hall. It's yet another example of the disparity between the outer suburbs and the inner-city suburbs.
"The last thing I'd say on billboards is, what do you guys hate about Times Square?"
IN NEWS TODAY:
Cr Pull said the works are not "something that needs to happen tomorrow", but should be progressed.
Council chief executive Jeremy Bath said given the "very slender" net operating surplus forecast for next year, he did not believe there would be funds to do meaningful work on the signage in the next financial year.
While billboards will not be used to fund new signage, councillors have asked for designs or plans made as a result of the push for a freshen-up be publicly exhibited for feedback before being approved.
Any designs, landscaping or presentation plans should be echoed in future main road designs where possible, including at Minmi Road.
Labor councillor Paige Johnson said from her own experience as an engineer, new signage could "potentially get into the millions of dollars".
"That's a concern that I'm very mindful of," she said.
"I imagine the revenue generated from billboards might require many dozens of billboards, if not hundreds of billboards, to potentially fully offset the entire cost of doing this.
"I would rather not have the city that I live in look sort of like a strip mall in America."
The motion will be referred to the Liveable Cities Strategic Advisory Committee, the Guraki Aboriginal Advisory Committee and a councillor workshop.
