Signs on the Dales Way near Gearstones, North Yorkshire. The CPRE says many signs are unnecessary
A countryside charity is calling on the Government to clear the clutter that is spoiling much of England’s rural beauty.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England says the proliferation of man-made intrusions is choking the outdoors and that the ‘green and pleasant land’ is being buried under a blanket of unnecessary road signs, pylons, overhead wires, phone masts and advertising boards.
The CPRE’s research shows there are 3½ million telephone poles, 52,500 mobile-phone masts and 9.75 million miles of overhead wires. England’s national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty contain 27,000 miles of overhead electric cable.
A seven-mile stretch of road in the South Downs national park has 300 signs – 45 signs per mile. The CPRE and RAC Foundation claim up to 70 per cent of rural road signs may be unnecessary.
Paul Miner, senior planning campaigner at CPRE, said: “Some of these structures are needed, but many are unnecessary and could be scrapped. Insufficient planning control and bad infrastructure management has caused parts of our landscape to look more like a scrap yard then the majestic green countryside.”
The campaign group said power lines in national parks and AONBs should be buried. In a statement today it said: “Positive work has begun on undergrounding power distribution lines with at least 78 miles of line buried in the last five years. However, there remain 27,000 miles of cable in national parks and AONBs, much of which could and should be removed. Ofgem has provided an allowance for the past five years and from this year onwards it has become much easier for providers to use this money.”
The CPRE also called on mobile phone network companies to remove redundant masts as they move towards sharing their infrastructure. Special planning privileges for mobile phone masts are no longer needed and should be removed, it says. Ofcom should also join Ofgem in working towards burying its phone lines, with a similar scheme to the power line ‘undergrounding’ which has seen the removal of overhead wires.
And councils should have to conduct clutter audits along countryside roads in an effort to remove signs and road markings deemed unnecessary.
Mr Milner said: “When we ask people what they feel most disrupts the tranquillity and beauty of our landscapes, it’s the ugly pylons, masts and advertising boards they point to. Cleaning up this mess only takes a little effort from the companies and councils responsible, and CPRE is ready and willing to help. If they all agree to step up to the challenge, we can start to improve and restore this green and pleasant land.”
