Now Bordeaux rejects pavement adverts

Bordeaux has followed Nantes' lead and has refused to take part in an 18-month pavement advertising experiment.

Mayor Alain Juppé will sign a decree 'prohibiting this practice on the public space of Bordeaux', according to Le Parisien, leaving Lyon as the only city yet to decide whether to allow the adverts.

As reported, a decree in the Journal Officiel temporarily legalised 'guerrilla-style' advertising on pavements in Bordeaux, Nantes, and Lyon, as part of an experiment into their impact.

Three days after Christmas, however, Nantes refused to allow the ads on its streets, saying it was working to reduce levels of advertising.

Bordeaux's deputy mayor Jean-Louis David, who is responsible for co-ordinating local policies, told Le Parisien that the city had refused a similar proposal two years ago - and branded this latest move as a 'fait accompli [that is] not acceptable'.

In an earlier statement, City Hall said: "The elected officials and administrations of the City of Bordeaux and Bordeaux Métropole were never consulted or informed in advance of this decision," adding that it "regularly refused requests of this type from advertisers or retailers", considering them as "unnecessary visual pollution".

Authorities in Lyon, meanwhile, have launched a consultation, involving "all the municipalities of the agglomeration", into the possibility of pavement advertising. Officials insist no decision has been made.

Pavement ads are banned elsewhere in France by road and environmental regulations.