Planning chiefs in Swindon have been criticised for failing to combat urban sprawl.

According to a Government report, Swindon officers are among the worst in the country for approving wasteful land policies.

Under national guidelines, all councils should ensure 30 to 50 homes are built per hectare.

But Swindon planners have allowed developers to build at a density of just 27 homes per hectare over the last four years.

That may be a slight improvement on the preceding years, when density dropped as low as 25 homes per hectare, but it is still a long way off national targets.

Even the controversial Front Garden development will fall far short of recommendations, at about 15 homes per hectare.

Countryside protest group the Campaign to Protect Rural England seized on the density figures, blacklisting the council as among the bottom 10 urban authorities in the land.

Spokeswoman Julie Stain-ton said: "We ask councils to think carefully about how they can improve their performance, working with developers to get away from wastefully low housing densities and to make better use of conversions and under-used or vacant land for new homes.

"But the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister should also make greater use of the powers it has to prevent councils and developers from ignoring these anti-sprawl policies."

Although the government issues planning density guidelines, they are not currently enforceable with punishments.

A spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister refused to comment on individual councils' records, saying it would be inappropriate.

But he said the Government was keen to see sufficient new homes "in the right place".

New figures from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister also revealed that Swindon's planning department had to cope with more than 2,000 applications for new building works last year equivalent to almost six each day.

Celia Carrington, director of Environment and Property at Swindon Council, said: "We fully support the Govern-ment's aims to increase housing densities and avoid the inappropriate use of land.

"Many of Swindon's developments were given consent prior to the publica-tion of government guidance on minimum densities."

Andy Tate