PENDLE MP Gordon Prentice has spoken out over his concerns that the countryside could be ruined by too many advertising billboards.

Mr Prentice was approached by the Lancashire branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) who urged him to help prevent an increase in billboards in rural areas.

The MP asked the government to think twice before relaxing its controls over billboards and allowing individual planning authorities to decide where they would be installed.

He was later told by environment minister Beverley Hughes that the government had decided to stick with the current system and will make sure it is being used as originally intended

Mr Prentice said: "It's all a question of balance.

"We can't have the Yorkshire Dales looking like the approach road to Las Vegas."