Countryside watchdogs fear roadsides could soon be swamped by advertising hoardings.

It was a campaign to stop just that happening in the 1920s that helped form the CPRE - the Council for the Protection of Rural England.

Now members are revisiting that battle.

They are protesting - and asking for backing from the general public - against controls on advertising being scrapped.

Thame area branch is joining others nationwide in protesting to Environment Secretary John Prescott.

The Government is considering scrapping the existing Areas of Special Control of Advertisements, which at present restrict major advertising hoardings to city areas.

If the controls were ditched, hoardings would be allowed anywhere, on any road, except those within officially designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty like the Chilterns.

Nationally, that would mean only 20 per cent of the countryside would be protected.

For the local CPRE, Amanda Garrett said: "A lot of people feel very strongly indeed that lifting these restrictions would seriously damage our countryside. The group generally is horrified at the prospect of people being able to put these hoardings up on any road in south Oxfordshire, for instance.

"It is a battle that CPRE is asking members of the general public to help them fight."

The CPRE is urging people to protest to John Prescott at Eland House in Brissenden Place, London SW1E 5DU.