A GOVERNMENT green paper proposing a complete overhaul in the land-use planning system raised serious concerns at a district cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening.

The Government document entitled Planning: Delivering A Fundamental Change calls for a radical and comprehensive review of the existing planning procedure in England.

It would like to simplify plan-making arrangements and speed up the process, which they described as an obstacle to development.

The district council agreed the current planning system was too time consuming and costly and praised the initiatives taken by the Government. However, councillors expressed concern over democratic involvement at all levels in the planning process.

Councillor Christopher Whiteside, said: "The purpose of the paper is to recognise that the current planning system is in need of change.

"It is inflexible, legalistic and bureaucratic. However, the new proposal has some excellent points.

"Some points are good in principle but there are some which are downright horrible."

A key point of the green paper is to strip county councils of their planning powers.

The Government would like to see decision-making moved away from county level to non-elected regional bodies, possibly located at the Eastern Regional Development Agency in Norwich.

Councillor Malcolm MacMillan described the proposal as another nail in the coffin for the county council, while Mr Whiteside, said: "There is a danger it becomes more restricted at a regional level and therefore less democratic."

The council were also particularly upset at plans to abandon the power of public enquiries to completely reject planning proposals.

"The green paper outlines an initiative which would give the government power to decide on major developments with public enquiries only able to object to the details.

"Mr Whiteside believes public inquiries should retain the right to object outright, to major planning decisions such as airports and motorways.

The council will now present its recommendations to the government along with other authorities across the nation.