RECENT media reports have drawn attention to the Government's intention to relax controls over advertising in rural areas. The proposal is that Areas of Special Control over Advertisements (ASCAs), which cover 50 per cent of the countryside, should be restricted to specific sites such as national parks which account for only 20 per cent.

The Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) has been campaigning since 1926 to prevent advertising in the countryside. We are concerned that this proposal will leave the rural areas around York, Selby and elsewhere with very little protection.

Advertisers would still need planning permission but, without the protection of ASCAs, the planning authorities would be under pressure from landowners and commercial interests to grant permissions.

Imagine the A64 from Leeds to York lined with billboards such as you see abroad, or your favourite Dales road lined with advert hoardings.

To fight further encroachments on the environment by commercial interests, write to your MP and your city or district council objecting to any relaxation of restrictions.

Don't forget that once these billboards (or worse) are in position it is very unlikely that they will ever be removed.

Marcus Dangerfield,

Chairman, York and Selby Branch,

CPRE.