Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Just what are the Conservatives playing at?

At last Tuesday's full council meeting, Conservative councillors voted to remove a vital control from the local planning process.

From now on, the public will not know if publicly agreed planning conditions for new developments will be enforced or even whether they will be deleted from the permission altogether.

Under the new rules, unelected council officers have the power to decide, behind closed doors (in the proverbial 'smoke filled room'), that conditions agreed in public at planning committee meetings can be ignored if developers don't like them.

Councillors will only be informed after the changes have been made. As for the public, you will have no say at all!

Non-Conservative councillors tried to block the disgraceful decision, which allows the vital restraints on new development to be ignored. WC claims that the change is to make the system more efficient, but it won't be more efficient for concerned residents who will find that safeguards they were promised - for example restrictions on the hours when building work can take place or access for building vehicles, have been discarded by council officers, with no democratic control or public discussion.

This decision might speed the planning process and please developers, but anyone who has been involved in a planning argument will realize just how worrying it is that publicly agreed conditions can now be set aside behind the closed doors of council offices.

This decision effectively bypasses the elected committees that make planning decisions in public with local input. This is a bad idea for planning, and the Conservatives need to rethink the implications of what they've forced through.

Interestingly, several Conservative councillors spoke against the proposal, but then voted for it (once the whip was imposed and they were told to do so). Is this what people vote for; councillors who express their concerns but are then too timid to vote with their conscience?

If you are represented by a true-blue Tory, ask them how they voted on this issue and why.

This is one of the most disgraceful and anti-democracy decisions that Jane Scott and her cronies have made and they should be ashamed of themselves.