Brentford neighbours of a derelict pub are campaigning for the New England to be renovated instead of illegally used as a giant advertising hoarding.

Nicky Cross, 54, and fellow residents of York Road, are angry the old pub, on the corner of York Road and Brook Lane North, is being used by the owner as a site for two huge adverts while it falls into disrepair.

She said: "There have been four car fires in the last two years, people are fly tipping and it is really bringing the area down. It has been this way for the last three yearsand it is time the owner took some responsibility for it."

The Clear Channel illuminated advertising hoardings went up soon after the pub's owner gained planning permission for turning the pub into a 36-bedroom hotel in 2006 - but the 12m x 3m boards do not have planning permission and residents suspect they are the reason the building renovations are not moving forward.

Nicky, a freelance conference producer, said: "The adverts look right over the M4 elevated section, and I was told that she could be making as much as s40,000 a month per hoarding."

Planning records show the owner has submitted three separate planning applications for the hoardings, the most recent in April this year, but all have been refused.

Council officials assured worried residents at a meeting  last wek that the hoardings will be taken down by October 2.