WHETHER it is something as momentous as the building of a nuclear power station, or as small as adding a conservatory to a house, planning is an important and thorny issue.

It depends on a balance being found between the need for progress to flourish and the importance of public consultation being taken seriously.

Often, it is a case of being unable to please all of the people all of the time, but the system must at least strive to strike that balance.

Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly argues that the creation of an Independent Planning Commission will help speed up the process without diluting public consultation.

Experts will be brought together to decide policy and there will be "better public engagement at every step of the way".

What remains very vague, however, is how that engagement will be ensured.

There is nothing quite like the democratic process for making up the minds of those in power.

When Tesco wanted permission to build a supermarket in Darlington market place earlier this year, more than 10,000 local people voiced their objections in no uncertain terms.

With the local elections looming, it made it impossible for Darlington Borough Council to do anything other than turn down the company's approach.

It was a good example of people power and, if the current planning process -for all its cumbersome complexities -is to be bypassed, that element of democratic restraint is bound to be undermined.

Objections may be a nuisance to those who have a vision of the future and want to get on with it, but we would be entering dangerous territory indeed if those points of view were not heard and taken fully into account.

The balance may be wrong as it stands.

Planning procedures may be over-complicated and take too long, holding up progress in important areas of the national economy.

But we must be very careful not to go too far the other way, resulting in sacrificing meaning- ful public consultation for the sake of greater speed.

On balance, it is better to take time to make the right decision than make the wrong decision in a rush.