The Government’s plans to shake up planning law have been slammed by North Wilts Labour Party as centralising, unworkable, undemocratic and unsustainable.

In response to the Planning for the Future white paper North Wilts Labour Party has submitted a detailed response to the consultation, which condemns the proposals for moving powers away from local authorities to Whitehall.

They claim the White Paper proposes that existing local and neighbourhood plans should be canned and replaced with a coarse approach that simply zones land for 'growth', 'renewal' or 'protected'.

Councillor John Boaler, from North Wilts Labour Party said: “The changes being proposed to our planning laws mean you will lose your say over any plans to build near you. It amounts to a developers‘ charter. And developers have donated £11 million to the Tories since Johnson’s election.”

He said examples of how the community been able to influence proposed developments include the ongoing debate with Churchill Retirement Living for a retirement home in the centre of Calne, rather than the preferred leisure use.

“Powers to reject such schemes would be lost ,” he said.

“Under Planning for the Future this site would be categorised as ‘renewal’ and a developer would be free to build housing here.

"They would have no requirement to adhere to the aspirations of the Neighbourhood Plan; and with Calne Town Council and Wiltshire Council, no longer having any powers to stop this.”