An appeal by Transport for Wales over a Ceredigion County Council decision to refuse plans to install a huge LED advertising screen next to Bow Street train station has been dismissed by Welsh inspectors.

TfW wanted to install a six metre by three metre digital advertisement screen next to the train station but Ceredigion County Council planners said that the board “by virtue of its scale, illumination, and prominent siting adjacent to the A487 trunk road, would result in an unduly obtrusive and visually incongruous feature within the surrounding semi-rural landscape.”

It was a slightly tweaked version of plan that was refused late in 2025.

The new plan, rejected in January, was for a freestanding digital 48-sheet advertising screen Transport for Wales, approximately 65m to the south-east of the Bow Street station car park – the same signage as was earlier proposed.

But documents for the new application said the plan included “further highway safety information”.

In the first application in September, council planners said that the board “by virtue of its scale, illumination, and prominent siting adjacent to the A487 trunk road, would result in an unduly obtrusive and visually incongruous feature within the surrounding semi-rural landscape.”

The Trunk Road Agency also directed refusal for the proposal “due to the proposed LED sign installation creating an unacceptable level of driver distraction.”

Planners refused that plan under delegated powers.

Ceredigion County Council planners refused the new application in January saying “the proposed digital advertisement board, by virtue of its scale, illumination, and prominent siting would result in an unduly obtrusive and visually incongruous feature within the surrounding semi-rural landscape.”

“Its elevated visibility from the public highway and nearby viewpoints would detract from the visual amenity and character of the area,” planning officers said.”

The Trunk Road Agency “directed refusal for the proposal at hand, due to the proposed LED sign installation creating an unacceptable level of driver distraction.”

Welsh planning inspectors dismissed TfW’s appeal over the decision, concluding that the “proposed advertisement would be harmful to the visual amenities of the area.”

“The proposed display would remain a large illuminated digital feature in a prominent roadside position designed to attract attention,” inspectors said.

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“Given the level of vigilance required on this section of the road, the combination of its scale, illumination and changing images would be likely to unacceptably distract drivers from the driving task, even at low speeds.”