CONTROVERSIAL proposals for a shake-up of Bolton's planning system mean most decisions will be made by officers, not councillors, the BEN can reveal.

The Government said it wants 90 per cent of planning decisions to be taken by town hall planning officers. Currently they can only offer advice and councillors decide whether or not to accept it.

But Bolton Council deputy Tory leader John Walsh has reacted angrily, saying it overrides the democratic process.

"The Government is taking away local planning from elected councillors and giving decisions affecting the lives of residents of Bolton to bureaucrats," he warned.

"Local planning is a very important democratic matter." He added: "In setting this target the Government wants to end this involvement by councillors in the planning process.

"Councillors have rejected many applications in order to defend Bolton's environment. Local knowledge often helps good planning."

He said councillors face election and are accountable while bureaucrats are not.

Planning chairman Cllr Prentice Howarth (Labour) said councillors have not yet discussed the Government proposals.

But she said people in the town feel they get a fair crack of the whip with elected members making the decisions and that is they way they like to do things.

"We have got to be accountable to the public at the end of the day, that's the way it should be," she added. David McGuinness, of Station Road, and Crown Lane Residents Association in Blackrod - which keeps a close eye on planning matters after fighting off a coal yard proposal - said the move would give more scope for corruption.

"They would not be answerable to anyone," he said. "It stinks, it is taking away democracy and our say in the planning process."