RESIDENTS may not find out about building plans that could affect their homes because a council has decided to scrap letter notifications, it has been warned.

Conservative-run Cherwell District Council will no longer send individual letters to local people who may want to know about new planning applications near to where they live – to help save the authority £80,000 a year.

Applications will no longer be published in county newspapers either.

Homeowners will instead be expected to find out about some applications by notices placed at the site – for example pinned to lamp posts – from March 1.

Les Sibley, Labour group leader on the authority, said: “If notices are stuck on fences or posts, people don’t automatically go up and read them.

“I think we need to let people know directly. If people are going to be consulted you can’t leave it to chance.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Nick Cotter said: “The reality is people lead busy lives and they are not always peering around the nearest lamp post to see what may or may not be up there.

“I think it goes totally against the grain of giving people more of a say on local planning issues.

“For the sake of £80,000 this is a totally retrograde step.”

Jon O’Neill, who led the Ardley Against the Incinerator campaign, said: “I understand the council is trying to save money, but it would be a shame because they were very good at informing the local community.”

The council sends out 10,000 to 20,000 letters a year, with two to 500 letters per application, depending on its scale.

It did not consult on the changes, which were passed by the executive.

The authority said it would no longer advertise all applications in newspapers and will only advertise those that it is legally required to, such as major schemes or plans for listed buildings.

The council said all applications were on its website, http://cherweb.cherwell-dc.gov.uk.

Michael Gibbard, executive member for housing and planning, said: “In the current stringent economic circumstances it’s right that the council should look at ways of cutting expenditure.”