Planning decisions in Oxford should be made at new area committees, according to Labour councillor Colin Cook.

Following the local government re-organisation last year, the city has six area committees. But after the Labour group's victory on Thursday, Cllr Cook, who holds responsibility for planning, said the system should be overhauled.

He would like to see six new committees created to deal exclusively with planning issues. This would double the number of area committees to 12, and councillors would sit on their corresponding planning area committee.

Cllr Cook said: "The department is now in the top 25 per cent of local authorities. If six separate committees were set up to examine only planning issues, I think it would help to speed up the process.

"Ultimately, I would like to go back to the old system with one central planning committee, but this could be a good halfway house."

However, Cllr John Goddard, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said he would not be in favour of a return to a single planning committee.

He added: "The advantage of the area committees is that decisions are made by local councillors and they are made on the basis of local knowledge."