- Sewage plants and incinerator chimneys dumped in your neighbourhood: A new centralised planning quango will strip local communities of any say not just over airports, power stations and motorways, but also on incinerators, sewage plants and hazardous landfill sites. Its powers also include compulsory purchase of land.
- Unsackable quangocrats: The new unelected 'planning commissioners' will effectively be unsackable and unaccountable. The Government propose fixed eight year terms, and no ability for their removal on grounds of their decisions - giving a green light for the quangocrats to ignore public opinion.
- Supermarkets favoured over small shops: Controls will be weakened on out of town development, giving the dominant supermarkets even greater power over small shops and local high streets.
But Mr Dunne said he supported proposals to make it easier for households to build an extension - provided that neighbours were still given the opportunity to object if it affected their property or local amenity.
He said today:
"After ten years of Labour in office, the number of people who own their home is now falling. Labour's regional planning red tape and Whitehall targets have snarled up the planning system, whilst restricting the say of local residents. Ever higher stamp duty and soaring council tax have made it harder for people in the Ludlow constituency to get a foot on the first rung of the housing ladder.
"Gordon Brown has shown his true control freak instincts by backing moves to strip local communities of their say over incinerators, rubbish dumps and sewage plants. Labour has sided with large developers, rather than local people.
"Yes, the planning system needs reform and we need to build more homes. But the voice of local communities must be preserved and a democratic, accountable process must be maintained.
"If these plans were now law, for example, current plans for waste to energy plants near Burford and Bishop's Castle could bypass local resident concerns."
