ROAD signs across East Lancashire have been hauled down by a group campaigning for the county's historic boundaries to be re-instated.

National organisation CountyWatch removed signs at Wilpshire, Guide, Belthorn, Preston Old Road, Knuzden and Whitebirk and vowed to dump them on the steps of county hall.

County council leader Hazel Harding today said the authority would look to prosecute those responsible.

And police said they would look to arrest group members once they had received a complaint.

Despite Blackburn with Darwen being in the heart of the county, Welcome to Lancashire signs are visible on several roads leading out of the borough because it is a unitary authority and not governed by county hall.

Lancashire County Council erected the signs in 2004 to show people where its services begin and end.

But CountyWatch, headed by Essex-based solicitor Anthony Bennett, 58, claims the signs are illegal.

Similar signs at Blackpool, another unitary authority, and signs around Ormskirk, Skelmersdale and Southport were also due to have been removed by the end of today (Monday).

CountyWatch, which has made similar raids in Lincolnshire and Somerset in 2005, intends to return all 40 signs to county hall, Preston, in protest at what it says are attempts to erode the England's county boundaries.

Mr Bennett said: "Our plan now is to return them to the county council and say 'here are your signs, can you make sure you tell people where Lancashire begins, not just where your administrative area begins'."

"Our main aim is to get the authorities to think again about what they are doing to the real Lancashire and re-erect the signs back on the true borders with Cheshire and Yorkshire, not in the middle of Lancashire."

The group, which has around 12 members or helpers, is justifying its removal of the signs under section 131 of the Highways Act 1980.

That gives people who remove signs a defence against prosecution if the sign they remove is "not lawfully placed on the highway."

Inspector Graham Ashcroft, of Blackburn Police, said: "If the county council wish to make a complaint than we will take action to arrest those concerned."

Coun Harding said the council would be prepared to prosecute members of CountyWatch and would look to replace the signs.

She said: "I think it is a shame that people have nothing better to do. These people are no different to the young people who go out and have a few too many drinks and start causing criminal damage.

"These people don't even come from Lancashire and to come hundreds of miles to do this is very very sad."

Blackburn with Darwen councillor Paul McGurty has been critical of the signs in the past.

He said: "Although I don't agree with people just tearing down signs at will, I can see their point."