COUNTRYSIDE preservation groups fear an "anti-democratic" body designed to fast-track major planning decisions could threaten the natural environment of the Westcountry.

In the biggest shake-up of the planning system for more than 60 years, a new Government quango will run the rule over wind farms, nuclear power stations, and waste incinerators that are considered vital for the national interest.

But critics worry that the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), which is to begin work next month and start receiving applications from March 2010, will marginalise public dissent over controversial development.

Westcountry representatives from Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) argue such big planning decisions must not be imposed on local communities.

It is believed developers are preparing to submit more than 50 schemes to the IPC in its first year, with large energy projects topping the list, including scores of wind farms.

Based on wind farm developments that have passed through the planning system to date, only the controversial 22 wind turbines on Fullabrook Down in North Devon, which will represent England's biggest wind farm to date, would have landed on the IPC's desk.

But it is thought the new regime will prompt a surge in applications from developers, with the windy and open Westcountry likely to be a target area, despite fierce opposition in large pockets of the region.

The IPC estimates that plans for around 60 large wind farms will be submitted in its first two years of operation alone.

The creation of the non-elected body, arguably the most powerful quango ever, comes as the Government insists that a greater take-up of renewable power is essential in the battle against climate change and improving energy security.

Energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband has warned that communities in the Westcountry have "no option" but to support a massive expansion of onshore turbines.

Richard Ward, CPRE Cornwall's planning and development manager, said he was concerned that "top-down rather than bottom-up planning" will result in "limited" input from local communities on wind farms and housing developments.

While the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) says plans for the eco-town in St Austell's Clay Country in Cornwall will not fall under the IPC's remit, Mr Ward is worried its initial powers could just be the "thin end of the wedge".

Mr Ward, who has worked in planning for 40 years, said: "If it proves successful, we don't know what power they might have over other schemes.

"If you centralise decision- making, I can't see how that could be democratic. You can't out-vote whoever is on the commission."

He added: "Cornwall is at a watershed. As a county, it has remained the same for the past 30 to 40 years.

"You have this amazing environment – an amazing countryside and coastline.

"It has not seen the development that others have. But that push for change is growing. That's the watershed. Some change is good.

"But where do you draw the line on progress? Is it for the gain of local people or for other people?"

The IPC will have a 10-strong board and employ 35 commissioners, who will examine plans in detail and undertake public hearings.

It will be chaired by Sir Michael Pitt, a former engineer and transport planner who knows the region well as he stepped down as chairman of the South West Strategic Health Authority to take up the post. The quango will be based in Bristol.

Having quietly fallen out of the 2008 Planning Act, the IPC is seen as a symbol of the most significant change to planning law since the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, legislation which installed order to a chaotic system of development.

Its creation is a result of long-standing Government fears that the sluggish nature of the planning system over major schemes left Britain at a competitive disadvantage compared to the rest of the world.

The new regime will take power away from local councils and hand them to the non-elected IPC on big, strategic infrastructure project. This includes airport runways, major road schemes and new rail lines, as well as power stations, wind farms, waste disposal schemes and new water projects.

In the Westcountry, plans for waste incinerators are being considered in Plymouth, Exeter and North Devon, but they might not be large enough for the IPC to get involved.

Hinkley Point near Bridgwater in Somerset, where a nuclear power station has stood since 1976, has been earmarked as a possible site for the next generation of reactors to be up and running by 2017.

The CPRE's Mr Ward is concerned about the influence 12 national policy statements, emanating from three Whitehall departments, will have on the IPC's thinking on these areas.

According to the DCLG, the documents, which will cover areas including renewables, road and rail and waste, will "integrate environmental, social and economic objectives".

Mr Ward said the voice of local people needed to be "properly heard" and that the Government "ignored communities at their own peril".

The IPC has stressed it will balance the national interest with the local impact of applications.

Sir Michael has said: "It is possible for the commissioners to overrule a national policy statement if, in their judgment, the damage to the local environment exceeds the benefit to the nation as a whole."

He added democracy will be enhanced as "all interests, objectors and local authorities will get a better deal".

He added: "It will be much easier for them to make their case for and against an application."