COUNCILLORS have delayed a decision to scrap their development plan for Kirklees .
Kirklees Council’s cabinet was set to officially withdraw its blueprint for future housebuilding yesterday, amid criticism from the Planning Inspectorate.
An inspector raised concerns about Kirklees’ co-operation with neighbouring councils while formulating its Local Development Framework (LDF) plan .
The framework had also been criticised for its low level of new homes planned before 2028.
The LDF core strategy sets out how much new development there should be, broadly where it should be and policies to ensure that the strategy is delivered in a sustainable way.
It has long been a contentious subject with arguments raging about where new homes could go and concerns about developing on the green belt.
Following the feedback from the Planning Inspectorate, council chiefs were faced with either going back to the drawing board or having their new development plan reviewed by the Inspectorate in September.
In light of the comments, Kirklees Council officers had recommended withdrawing the plan.
But they have now deferred their decision to wait and see what happens at a Planning Inspectorate review of Leeds City Council’s LDF plan on July 8.
Leeds was subject to similar criticism by the Inspectorate.
Clr Peter McBride, Joint Cabinet member for Place , said: “Given the response of the inspector, we need to assess the options for our LDF.
“On the face of it, it seemed that withdrawing the strategy was best.
“However, Kirklees is not the only council developing its strategy, and the duty to co-operate applies to other councils.
“The planning inspector examining the Leeds plan will be holding a meeting within the next week on this issue and it would seem sensible to await the outcome of those discussions before we take our next step.”
Council leader, Clr Mehboob Khan , added: “Our partnership with our neighbouring local authorities has been excellent so it’s in our best interest to wait for the outcome in Leeds before we determine the outcome here.”
A report into the concerns reveals the council’s planning team do not agree with the criticism by the inspector.
It says: “It remains the opinion of officers that the actions taken under the duty to co-operate were consistent with the advice from Government available at the time taking into account that the duty came into effect at a very late stage in the process of preparing the core strategy and at a time when Government was encouraging councils to get up to date plans in place as quickly as possible”.
