SAVE Whalley Action Group chairman Nick Walker has rejected a call by leading Ribble Valley Tory councillors for ‘neighbourhood plans’ for the village, Longridge and Clitheroe.

Dilworth councillor Ken Hind and Clitheroe Town Mayor Kevin Horkin believe the blueprints under new legislation could stem the tide of housing development around the settlements.

Mr Walker said: “We have looked into this and they would be complete waste of time.

“These plans have been trumpeted by the government as the perfect solution to all our problems of over development.

“They are intensely bureaucratic and would take two years to be completed. They only decide on how any more houses would be built once the government’s target for house numbers had been achieved. It would have to dovetail into the borough’s plan for house building.

“The key betrayal is that land owners, developers, the borough and the county council would have the major say.

“We are looking for a maximum number to be put on house building. There is no provision for that.”