A state government plan to allow consultants to approve the conversion of industrial land for housing has sparked warnings of health risks from contamination.

Auditors say that proposed new approval guidelines are a ‘‘major deviation’’ from decades-old standards and will undermine community protection.

The pressure to increase housing is prompting the conversion of formerly industrial sites to residential ones.

The draft Remediation of Land State Environmental Planning Policy recommends giving certified consultants equal status to auditors, who now must sign off when industrial land – such as petrol stations and landfills – is converted to housing.

‘‘They’re opening the way for less qualified people,’’ said Rod Harwood, an auditor and NSW chairman of industry group the Australasian Land & Groundwater Association (ALGA).

‘‘We’re not going to protect human health and the community as well as we are now.’’