THREE PROPOSED FOR TOWN CENTRE DESCRIBED AS 'VISUALLY INTRUSIVE'

PROPOSALS for communication hubs in Middlesbrough town centre have been refused.

- By DANIEL HODGSON

The unsuccessful applicant - In Focus Public Networks Limited - had hoped to install three hubs on pedestrianised streets.

Each hub would have been equipped with a defibrillator on one side of the structure and an advertising board on the other.

Two of these hubs were due to be located on Corporation Road, with one on Linthorpe Road.

Planning documents set out that the Linthorpe Road hub would have been situated next to Boots, while Corporation Road would have seen one of the structures outside Lounge Afrique and another adjacent to Footasylum.

Documents submitted to the planning authority explained that the defibrillator on each of the structures would be accessible 24 hours a day.

The 86-inch advertising board, which takes up one of the two sides of the structure, would show commercial and community information in a series of static images.

Size wise, the hub would measure 2.6m in height, with a width of 1.4m. The depth of the cuboid structure would be 31.7cm in the main, but a protective canopy would jut out on the defibrillator side.