A Staffordshire MP today claimed that many of his colleagues are increasingly disturbed by the Government’s planning reforms but have not spoken out.

Stone MP Bill Cash also said that the Localism Bill should be improved in order to protect the countryside.

In a national newspaper he said MPs had been “relatively mute” over the reforms,

He said: “Having signed up for plans they were told would stimulate growth, they now face increasing protests from their core supporters.

“Part of the problem is that MPs were not given the complete picture at the right time. The planning framework was not even available for inspection until after the Localism Bill had passed the House of Commons.

“Later, as the debate developed, claims were made that, on closer inspection, did not stack up. For example, when the Prime Minister wrote to the National Trust on September 20, he repeated his promise to the Campaign to Protect Rural England in 2008 that ‘the beauty of our landscape, the particular cultures and traditions that rural life sustains, these are national treasures to be cherished and protected for everyone’s benefit’.

“Unfortunately, as the president of the Royal Town Planning Institute has indicated, the new planning framework and the Localism Bill will not achieve this objective unless major changes are made.”