Famous names from the art and entertainment world have joined the fight to Save Our Green Spaces by announcing that England’s “precious, inspirational and irreplaceable” countryside is being eroded by poorly planned developments,.

Those making the call include Sir Tony Robinson, of Blackadder fame, the comedian Jo Brand, War Horse author Michael Morpurgo as well as the MPs Zac Goldsmith and Nick Herbert.

The group have urged politicians to build on brownfield land and give local people a more decisive say in developments.

In a letter to a national newspaper the group say they want “a fair say for local communities, who are increasingly unable to stop the destruction of their towns and countryside.”

The letter comes ahead of tomorrow’s launch of a major push to save England’s countryside by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

The letter states: “The English countryside is precious, inspirational and irreplaceable, but it is being eroded every day as a result of poorly planned development.”

The campaigners call for supporters to sign the “charter to save the countryside” on the CPRE’s website.

“If we don’t fight for our countryside now, we will lose it,” they add.

Bradford community activist Elizabeth Hellmich, of the Safe Project, welcomed this latest drive to save the vanishing cou tryside.

“We need to use the brownfield sites more and build houses where Bradford city centre people want to live – near their families, friends and communities – and leave the “green lungs” of the area alone,” she said.

Buck Lane campaigner Ed Butterworth, of action group BRAID, said he was pleased by any initiative to try and turn the tide away from lucrative green field development.

“This is not just making the moral case against green space development.

“The fact is developers make more money from green sites and this CPRE campaign suggests financial ways to offset the cost of brown field sites to encourage them – and councils – to go brownfield first. We totally support this campaign.”

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “Our reforms are totally focused on better development and on building the homes we urgently need in a way that safeguards and protects the countryside.

“Local people have more power than ever to decide which sites will be used for development.”