A £300,000 refresh for a Cotswold town's transport hub will include a series of state-of-the-art digital advertising billboards at the bus station – unless locals who are furious at the proposal get planners to pull the plug.

As reported this July, Shire Hall has been co-ordinating a cross-council investment to spruce up Stroud's transport infrastructure at the Five Valleys Shopping Centre.

In the wake of Manchester-based Dransfield Properties Ltd investing a reported £25m on rejuvenation of the centre, GCC has pledged £300,000 for improvements, which are set to include higher quality bus shelters, real-time passenger info, more CCTV and a "better waiting environment".

But a request for a rubber stamp from Stroud District Council on three new digital advertising boards, as well as an additional static board, has been met with immediate opposition, with a claims that the boards would compromise road safety, "bombard" school children with advertising and eat the same electricity as up to four homes.

The design for each of the three UK-made boards, as proposed by Leeds-based Clear Channel UK, measures just over 1.6 metres in height and just under a metre in width, with the ability for ads to be changed remotely.

The company is one of Europe's biggest advertising infrastructure operators and operates in 16 nations, with 1,600 staff. 

Its site states: "Clear Channel partners with local authorities to provide and maintain innovative, practical and useful public infrastructure that benefits people in the communities in which we operate. We also work closely with commercial landlords to operate a compelling advertising estate.

Sue Cook, spokeswoman, told planners: "The digital display will portray static advertising images that change every 10 seconds."

The applicant also said the design "integrates with bus shelters within the CCUK portfolio" and features "robust, fully weatherproof design", including heat-strengthened laminated glass.

The internally-lit LCD technology boards would carry adverts that create revenue to fund local services, the application added, while an additional unlit board would host non-advertising material, such as council and community messaging.

Further spec details indicate that the boards feature comprehensive remote management and monitoring, a secure content management system and automatic brightness control system which "adapts displays to ambient light levels".

The bid added the displays use 50% less power consumption compared with previous comparable displays and would have 4G connectivity, with roaming across multiple mobile networks, while 5G would be subsequently added when available.

Georgina Anstey, who said she had already filed an objection, said: "I personally don't want my child sat at the bus stop for school with flashing adverts," while Andrew Longhurst added: "They use a massive amount of energy – I just checked and each of these digital displays uses between 11,500 and 16,900kWh of electricity – that is the same as 2.5 to four average homes per year."

But resident Andy Brooks dismissed complaints, saying: "It starts like a Piccadilly Circus or Bladerunner scenerio when in reality it's just a screen at a bus station. Campaign for something meaningful, like restoring the canal, protecting woodlands or outsiders inflating house prices."

And Lynsey Gray said: "They have these at Gloucester Quays and last time I went seemed to have a lot of local adverts which I found interesting. Are they not solar powered when outside?"

Nailsworth resident Andrew Budd suggested (as indicated by the applicant) that the scheme would return money to the community: "I was involved in providing bus stops in Colchester. The way it worked was that a private company would provide shelters and bus stops and repair and maintain them, at no expense to the taxpayer, but only if the overall bundle offered good spots for advertising revenue."

A report by Cherwell District Council into road safety implications from digital boards states: "Numerous pieces of research have shown that there is as yet no proven correlation between LED digital advertising and reduced traffic safety." Glance duration by drivers, the research suggested, lasted for 0.07 seconds.

Shire Hall has said it has no concern over the boards, telling planners: "Based on the analysis of the information submitted, the Highway Authority concludes that there would not be an unacceptable impact on Highway Safety or a severe impact on congestion. There are no justifiable grounds on which an objection could be maintained."

● Stroud District Council has set September 17 as the deadline for views on the proposal.