The complex system of checks and balances which has made the crowded parts of England bearable for the past 60 years is set to be dismantled by the Government.

Today's announcement by CLG Secretary Ruth Kelly

• transfers key planning rights from local councils to a new unaccountable quango


• undermines the rights of neighbours to protect their area from thoughtless developments


• increases the power of developers to press through large projects.

Chris White, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the East of England Regional Assembly, said:

"It is frankly difficult to find a way through all the weasel words. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Government is desperate to wreck our environment by driving through airport schemes and new power stations.

The Government seems to have not the slightest interest in how much local people value their rights to object to planning applications both large and small. Residents' lives can be made a misery by poorly thought-through developments, whether that is a new airport runway or an over-large house extension.

Nothing is being done to help councils deal with those who break the rules and next to nothing is being done to reform the failed appeals system, which so often has people who know nothing about an area delivering perverse verdicts.

What we needed was more local control by local councils accountable to local people. What we have is more central control, fewer safeguards and big fat profits for some of the country's most antisocial companies."