A-boards: a cluttered argument?

It's not difficult to see both sides of the argument in Nottingham's great A-boards debate.
To summarise, the council wants to clear the streets of these advertising boards, claiming they clutter up the city and pose a hazard to people walking around the centre.
These justifications may seem pretty sweeping to some. But you need to know the bigger picture.
A few years back, the Local Government Association – the body that represents councils - was grappling with the old chestnut of why it is that people habitually diss local councils regardless of the breadth and depth of services they routinely provide.
The assumption that lay behind this discussion was that the sheer scale of council services meant that if you put the ritual carping to one side they must actually be doing a reasonable job most of the time.
That's a fair-ish assumption, I suppose, though I'm not sure it fully appreciates the public's right to criticise what they get for their money or the antipathy that naturally exists between the small individual and the large authority.
Anyway, what came out of this soul searching was something called the Local Government Reputation Campaign, a strategy designed to help councils highlight the good things they routinely do.
The thinking, I guess, was that people would be less likely to whinge about their council if they had a better grasp of what it did for them.
One of the ideas the LGA campaign came up with was to put the spotlight on services delivered under the banner of Cleaner, Safer, Greener. This is why you can see those same words on the side of Nottingham City Council's street sweepers.
But what's all this got to do with A-boards being swept off the streets of Nottingham? There may not be a direct link, but de-cluttering the city streets feeds into the same agenda.
There are two issues here.
One is the need for a sensible compromise. Giving the impression that your stance is 'we're getting rid of A-boards and that's it' risks being seen as a one-eyed policy unconcerned with the consequences.
Now, some of the businesses affected don't need A-boards because they are retail chains with thumping great display windows – so they can stick their 'manager's special' poster in the appropriate place.
But small, side street or second floor businesses that don't have the money to advertise are a different matter. The boards help attract passing trade and let people know where they can find businesses with tiny signs in often obscure locations.
The council would be doing itself a favour if it found another way of giving them a voice, may be even pointing the way to them on some of its own poster sites.
The second issue is where this policy might lead. If the council really is serious about removing clutter from the streets then it ought to take a long, hard look at its own policies on street signs and street furniture.
Is it all absolutely necessary? And would less of it help the council achieve its own aim of de-cluttering our streets?