TOWN councillors have rubbished claims that they have compromised a motion calling for the controversial Waitrose plan to be sent to a public inquiry.

The motion, agreed at a packed public meeting in March, was to demand that the town council should ask for the application to be referred to the secretary of state with a view to holding a public inquiry.

This was backed by three of the town's most powerful organisations, including the chamber of trade, because of the controversial nature of the 56,000 sq ft plans.

But at the last meeting of Marlow Town Council on May 3, councillors refused to carry the motion and referred it to Wycombe District Council because the town council was not a "planning authority".

Colin Berks, of the chamber, who was at the meeting, reacted angrily claiming the council had failed to deliver "democracy".

He said: "They didn't like the public asking for a call-in. They are under instructions from the Government not to have unnecessary public inquiries because it is too much money. They weren't asked as a planning authority.

"They were asked as elected representatives to represent the community."

Mr Berks said he believed that a failure to uphold the motion gave the community "less chance" of getting the application called in for a public inquiry because the town council carried such weight.

Cllr Frank Sweatman dismissed the claims, saying the council had no such powers to request that the application gets called in.

He said: "It the town council has no power to get it called in. The allocated body to do so is the district council not the town council. That is the point."

Cllr Roger Wilson agreed with Cllr Sweatman, but said the council was still helping the cause by choosing to reject several recent amendments to the proposals.

An expert from the Royal Town Planning Institute said that while support from the council was effective in such cases, it didn't influence the secretary's final decision.

He said: "What they the town council say does carry some weight. However the evidence of a statutory consultee is not the decisive factor in granting or refusing planning permission."