AN ADVERTISING company has been ordered to remove hoardings from fields on the outskirts of Darlington or face possible prosecution.
The three large advertising boards are situated on the back of farm vehicles alongside the A66 near Great Burdon, off Snipe Lane close to the new Darlington football ground and in the Whessoe area close to the A1M.
Mr Adrian Miller, area planning officer for Darlington Borough Council, confirmed on Wednesday that the hoardings were in breach of planning regulations.
He said: "We believe they need permission and we have written to the advertising company concerned to tell them that.
"The regulations state that if a static vehicle is used for advertising purposes it does require consent.
"We have given them three weeks to remove them and if they do not we may prosecute.
"That applies to the advertising company, the people whose products or services are being advertised and the land owners."
The move coincides with a campaign against countryside billboards by the Council for the Protection of Rural England.
The CPRE placed advertisements in the national press on Monday under the heading Bye Bye English Countryside.
l See page 19.
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