Countryside campaigners, CPRE, have called for action to reduce the proliferation of man-made clutter that is choking the landscape.

The charity argues that our 'green and pleasant land' is being lost under a blanket of overhead wires, phone masts, advertising boards, pylons and unnecessary road signs. The government, by encouraging the responsible companies to work together with local communities to tackle these issues, could take a big step towards Prime Minister David Cameron's vision of a 'Big Society'.

There are more than 52,500 mobile phone masts in the UK and around 3.5 million telephone poles supporting 9,750,000 miles of overhead wires. On top of this there are 200,000 miles of overhead electricity line with all the poles and pylons needed to carry it - 27,000 miles of this cable can be found in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. CPRE and the RAC Foundation believe up to 70 per cent of road signs in the countryside may be unnecessary. On one road in the South Downs National Park (the B3006), there are 300 signs on a seven mile stretch of road.

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 majestic green countryside.'