CHANGES to the planning process proposed earlier this week will make it easier for large supermarkets to be built, according to local politicians.

A white paper published by the Government on Monday proposed sweeping changes to speed up the planning process, which it says is currently slow and confusing.

But politicians in St Albans say the proposals will take power away from local people when it comes to making decisions on applications and add that such a move is expected soon from Tesco for the site it owns in London Road.

The worry stems from a proposal in the paper to scrap the current "needs test" that allows councils to decide whether supermarket developments are really warranted.

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Sandy Walkington said: "If they bring this in, it will only make it harder for us to defeat the monstrous Tesco proposal for central St Albans.

"Not just in St Albans but all over the country people are saying enough is enough' to ever more applications for giant superstores.

"This is yet another chipping away of power from locally elected representatives to decide what is good for local people."

St Albans MP Anne Main accused the Government of "choosing big business over local people".

She said: "There are many worrying things in this report, including proposals to allow faceless regional quangos, not local authorities, to decide major proposals such as the railfreight interchange.

"The removal of the council's veto on the retail needs of a town is a worrying blow to local democracy.

"For us, this could mean that the London Road Tesco would have a greater chance of success - so much for local people shaping their community."

No proposal has yet been submitted by Tesco, but local campaigners are continuing to collect signatures for their petition opposing the development.

Stop Tesco campaigner Mike Dilke said that the group had now collected 4,300 signatures, and was hoping to raise the total to 5,000 at St Albans market on May 30.

He said: "The number of local people signing the petition has exceeded the wildest estimate we had when launching our campaign.

"The people of St Albans are saying stop' to Tesco with one voice."