The government is consulting the citizens of Leicester on whether to enable their local authority to gain formal control of To Let boards in four key student roads surrounding its two universities. This will, in effect, introduce a To Let board ban in these areas.

Earlier this year the council applied to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to introduce formal controls for To Let boards and, after the consultation is over, a decision will be made.

The bid by Leicester City Council under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations comes after a voluntary code of conduct introduced three years ago failed to control the large number of boards visible in these areas “for large parts of the year – almost permanently”, the council says.

The voluntary code followed local concerns about the number of boards used by agents in the city’s highly competitive central rental market, which is dominated by Leicester’s 40,000 students.

The city ran a consultation last year which received 238 replies, 88 from local landlords opposing the measure, although 96 people requested an outright band.

A quick stroll down one of the main student roads in the city, Clarendon Street, reveals 21 To Let boards and three For Sale boards.

“Unfortunately, only a handful of agents have complied with [the voluntary code] and we continue to see large numbers of these advertisements on display,” says assistant city mayor Piara Singh Clair.

“Many students looking for property to rent now use online searches so the boards are largely used as advertising for the agents rather than serving their proper purpose.”

The council is not planning to ban letting agent boards outright. If the controls are given to the council then agents will instead be able to place small boards inside a property’s window.  The DCLG consultation is due to finish on November 8th and a decision is expected within six to 12 months, the council says.