GOVERNMENT proposals to relax planning requirements would result in a chaotic developer-led free for all, borough Labour leader Cllr Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port Town) believes.

He is concerned the move ‘could destroy the character of local communities’ and remove people’s chance to have a say in the future of their towns and villages.

“Planning is one of the major responsibilities of a local authority,” said Cllr Madders.

“We’ve already seen this Government and the Tories locally shifting toward supporting unrestricted housing development in the green belt but this latest worrying move really will create a free for all.”

With no planning controls in place, there would be ‘absolutely no chance’ for anyone to object, he added.

Cllr Madders fears developers would have the upper hand and believes one way to help homeowners and small businesses would be to cut VAT to 5% on home improvements, repairs and maintenance.

Cllr David Robinson, Labour’s environment spokesman in Cheshire West and Chester, said: “The post-war Labour Government introduced the concept of town and country planning and in particular the green belt.

“Now is the time to stand up and resist these ill thought out proposals.”

Cllr Carolyn Graham, Labour’s regeneration spokeswoman, added: “What makes this worse are recent statistics showing that of the 400,000 plots across the UK which already have planning permissions granted, only half have actually started building so it would take up to four years before this backlog of sites was exhausted.”

She argues no incentives are being offered in the borough for developers to come forward with brownfield sites.