Ministers have been urged to back measures to stop the "clustering" of betting shops and pay day lenders on the nation's high streets.

Labour's Graham Jones said it is time the Government took action to combat the "explosion of betting shops" which he said has had a negative impact particularly on the most deprived communities.

Mr Jones is leading a cross-party bid calling for planning guidance to be published to advise councils about when planning permission should, and should not, be granted for such shops, taking into account existing numbers, density and the impact they can have.

Proposing an amendment to the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, the MP for Hyndburn said: "Fixed odds betting terminals have been described as the crack cocaine of gambling and plague our high streets.

"Members have seen an innumerate number of issues with the explosion of betting shops on their high streets and it is high time there was clarity in planning law to this issue.

"There is no doubt there is a significant planning problem with numbers, clustering and impact which my amendment seeks to address and is a very moderate amendment."

Mr Jones cited evidence which he said showed a correlation between areas with a higher density of betting shops and higher numbers of people with gambling problems as he urged MPs to back the plan.

"You only have to walk down any high street to see in a deprived area clusters of pay day lenders and betting shops and this is affecting the vitality of our high streets," he said during the Bill's report stage debate in the Commons.

Mr Jones said guidance would help ensure that new developments are approved based on the grounds of public interest.

The amendment is backed by a selection of MPs from different parties - but not everyone supported the move.

Intervening on Mr Jones, Tory Philip Davies (Shipley) said: "There are far more pubs per square mile in poorer areas than betting shops, there are far more fast food takeaways per square mile in poorer areas than betting shops.

"Do you want to restrict those as well in order to protect the people in the poorest communities that you are talking about?"

The Neighbourhood Planning Bill aims to help identify and free up land for housing and to speed up its delivery by cutting red tape.

Conservative former minister Sir Oliver Letwin said he would have fewer objections if betting shops were built in the richest areas of cities rather than the poorest.

He said he "profoundly" disagreed with Mr Davies, adding: "I think it's a very sad spectacle - there are fellow citizens of ours who move, and I've watched them do it, from pay day lending shops directly into betting places.

"Nothing could be more deleterious to the things that this Government holds dear and that this party has fought for over many years since the days when (Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith) first brought out Breakdown Britain and Breakthrough Britain, to try to restore the stability of family life and workfulness in households that suffer all too often from a desperate effort - as part of a chaotic lifestyle - to improve their lot through betting.

"It's a snare and a delusion.

"It's extremely reprehensible that there has been a focus of building pay day lending and a focus of building betting shops right by each other, and indeed extremely reprehensible that the betting shops have been built in the poorest areas.

"If they were built in the middle of the richest areas of our cities, one would object to them much less - there are people there who can afford to bet, but I'm very much therefore on the side of (Mr Jones) and others, including my honourable friends who have signed his amendment, in seeking to ensure that the Government moves forward with measures to limit this."

But Sir Oliver said he would not vote for the amendment as it requires the Government to deliver it before moving forward with the rest of the Bill.