Advertiser wants electric billboard above five-road Flora Hill roundabout

Gawk is pushing for a digital screen cycling between different companies' ads.

It has lodged an application with the City of Greater Bendigo, which is yet to form a position on it.

The sign would be installed on the corner of a building facing Somerville Street and Townsend Street, which houses Kelly+Partners Bendigo (formerly known as MGR Accountants).

It would be about 16 square metres in size and spread across two walls looking out over the intersection.

The sign would be similar to others Gawk runs including at 54 Mitchell Street, Bendigo and 148-152 High Street, Kangaroo Flat.

Gawk is grappling with "unprecedented demand" for those two digital billboards, the company told the council.

Local businesses that want to advertise on the boards are waiting one to three months, it said.

"It means we aren't able to service last minute events/promotions. We are seeking to fix that issue with the establishment of a similar sign in Flora Hill," Gawk told the council.

"We hope that the operation of both current signs has shown how cutting edge the technology is which we utilise for the screens. The brightness controls ensure that the signage has no obtrusive light spilling out into the surrounding area."

Gawk has told the council the billboard would not be a huge leap from ideas already approved but not currently installed on ther Kelly+Partners building, including an electronic sign and externally illuminated display.

The new idea would fit with council planning policies encouraging promotional signs in commercial and industrial locations, Gawk told the council.

"The character of this particular area is commercial and utilitarian in nature," it said in its planning application.

That does not necessarily mean that the council will approve the new plans.

Gawk is no stranger to battles with the council over its signs.

Greater Bendigo's council originally refused permission for the company to install signs in Mitchell Street, Bendigo and High Street, Kangaroo Flat.

The council lost both cases on appeal before state planning umpire the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The council respectfully disputes any suggestion it has - as one tribunal member put it - a "sweeping prejudice" against such billboards and says decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

"It's not like we have not approved these sorts of things in other locations," statutory planning manager Ross Douglas said in 2022 after its third straight tribunal loss on digital billboards.

"For us it's about whether it's an appropriate location for different types of signs, in those scenarios. If we think the context is wrong we will be recommending refusal."