Unidos por la Costa reminded us this week on their Facebook Page that Advertising billboards are banned on national roads such as the N-332 — even when they are merely visible from motorways or dual carriageways.
This is not guidance or advice. Here in Spain it is the law.
Under Spain’s Roads Act (Law 37/2015), roadside advertising is prohibited to prevent driver distraction and reduce the risk of accidents. Road safety, lawmakers were clear, comes first.
Yet anyone driving along the coast can see the law being routinely ignored.
Oversized advertising hoardings loom over roads and residential areas, many of them clearly visible from high-speed routes. Rusting metal frames, peeling panels and glaring floodlights have become a familiar — and unwelcome — feature of the landscape.
Local councils cannot plead lack of authority. They have full powers to regulate, restrict or outright ban such installations where national roads pass through urban areas. If they choose not to act, it is not because their hands are tied, but because they lack the political will to do so.
Why? Because billboard permits generate revenue.
And while the money flows, residents are left to live beside corroded steel structures, often in poor condition and lit around the clock. Few homeowners would willingly choose to live next to a permanently illuminated advertising board — yet this is precisely what many are forced to accept.
When structures are damaged or collapse, the explanation is always the same: strong winds, bad weather, unforeseen circumstances. But these excuses ring hollow. Advertising structures are meant to be designed, certified and maintained to withstand normal weather conditions. Technical inspections before licences are issued are not optional extras — they are a legal requirement.
The uncomfortable truth is this: negligence, permissiveness and a lack of oversight have allowed the problem to spread.
The visual blight and potential danger posed by these billboards is not an accident, nor an act of nature. It is the direct result of administrative decisions — or the failure to take them.
The coast deserves better than a skyline of rusted iron and intrusive advertising. It deserves safety, respect for the environment, and public authorities willing to enforce the law rather than profit from ignoring it.
Credit: Unidos por la Costa
