RESIDENTS in Bude have made their feelings known in response to an application to install a number of city-style digital advertising boards across the town.

Following the news that Bude could be set for a taste of the metropolis with the introduction of two ‘Pulse Smart Hubs’, the town’s residents have made their feelings known in the hope that Bude is ‘left as it is’.

If approved, the Urban Innovation Company’s Pulse Smart Hubs would be installed at locations on Queen Street and The Crescent.

The company have expressed a number of potential benefits of the proposals, including a built-in public access defibrillator, built-in nasal Naloxone opioid antagonist and an emergency safety button to support anyone who is vulnerable.

However, residents have come out in force to oppose the addition to the coastal town, with 32 public objections having already been made on the council’s planning portal.

One resident wrote: “These proposals are inappropriate for Bude's historic character, would harm the special interest of the Bude Conservation Area, introduce unnecessary visual clutter to the public realm, raise public and highway safety issues, and disproportionately benefit large corporate advertisers over small independent local businesses.”

Among other issues raised by residents is the potential safety hazard they could pose.

“This is Bude, not Birmingham city centre,” another objector explained. “Siting of these screens would create a distraction to drivers and a dangerous obstruction to pedestrian and wheelchair users.”

Some have even gone as far as to describe the devices as ‘obscene’.

An objection added: “These hubs would clutter already small pavement areas, introduce yet more light pollution and be a visual monstrosity. The town centre is completely inappropriate for these hideous light up boxes!

“We have to protect what makes Bude special.”

The full plans can be found using reference PA26/00337 on the Cornwall Council website.