WATCH this space! Three giant advertising hoardings in Eastleigh are set to disappear after civic chiefs refused their own council planning permission to keep them up.

Two hoardings backing on to the new Lidl store and car park in Twyford Road and another huge advertising board at the pay and display car park in Southampton Road brought a chorus of disapproval from Eastleigh local area committee.

The borough's head of development control Colin Peters told members that the two boards in Twyford Road did not enhance Eastleigh at all and he described the Southampton Road board as an "ugly and prominent feature" on a major road.

Labour group leader Peter Luffman, pictured, said it had been the committee's intention to tidy up the area at Twyford Road long ago.

He said: "I don't think anybody could put hand on heart and say that these are helping the image of Eastleigh.

"At the end of the day we are meant to be trading up the image of Eastleigh - this makes it looks like the slum area of a city centre."

Committee colleague Gillian Connell said: "I really think that advertising hoardings are a blight on the urban landscape. Tat brings tat - let's get rid of them."

But executive cabinet member Marilyn Birks warned that council leader Keith House would probably be looking for other ways to net income if the advertising boards were lost.

She said: "I hardly think that the leader of the council will be rushing to join your fan club. He wants to find other income to ensure that we keep the money we would lose if we refuse planning permission."