Wiltshire Council’s 2020-38 local plan, which included the delivery of 37,000 homes, has been rejected by planning inspectors appointed by the government.
In a letter sent to Wiltshire Council at the end of last month, the inspectors said there was not enough “suitable and available land” to allocate to the homes, adding that if it were to move ahead, it would add “further, significant and currently unplanned time to the programme”.
The letter told the council either to completely withdraw its local plan from examination, or to request the inspectors to draw up a final report that would recommend the plan for non-adoption.
The letter also claimed that some of the sites within the local plan presented uncertain location, timing and infrastructure challenges.
The council said it has been developing its local plan for around nine years.
Ian Thorn, leader of Wiltshire Council, said he was “extremely disappointed and frustrated” by the decision “not least because of the implications for plan‑led decision‑making during a period of substantial pressure on housing delivery and infrastructure planning”.
In a response to the inspectors, Thorn said the council had taken every “reasonable step to prepare a local plan that we believe is capable of being found sound, despite extremely challenging circumstances, and a shifting national planning policy and legislative system”.
He added: “It would not have been in our interests to have under- or overstated how long this work would take and we were disappointed with the inference that we have not taken care to set out accurate and realistic timescales.
“We acknowledge the challenges you have identified, including the potential for extended timescales and the operational pressures arising from overlap with the new plan-making system. Nonetheless, the prospect of withdrawing our local plan, which has undergone extensive preparation, community engagement and examination, is disappointing.”
Last year, data from Pegasus Group revealed that 66% of local planning authorities outside London have outdated development plans.
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