The Council had submitted the plan for examination in April this year. However, the Inspector appointed to carry out the examination subsequently wrote (5-page / 109KB PDF) to the Council and said he had "serious concerns" that the Council had not met its duty to cooperate with neighbouring authorities in its preparation of the plan.
"I have seen no evidence that there has been any effort to meaningfully engage with adjacent councils with a view to a proper re-assessment of the Core Strategy’s provisions," the Inspector said in the letter.
The Inspector also said he was concerned about the soundness of the Council's housing strategy and that he had seen "no clear evidence" to support the Council's assertions in relation to its housing requirements.
He said that the changes required to address his concerns over the housing strategy could "go to the heart of the document" and result in the need for a "fundamentally different spatial approach".
"I therefore suggest that the council should give careful consideration to this matter and should make a pragmatic and realistic assessment of its prospects of receiving a recommendation from me that the Core Strategy be adopted. In these circumstances the Council may wish to give consideration to withdrawal of the Core Strategy," the Inspector concluded.
“After studying the options available the best course of action looks to be the withdrawal [of] the core strategy and agreeing a replacement," said the Council's joint cabinet member for place Peter McBride in a statement.
"If we continued with our submission and it failed at a later stage we would be even further behind than taking the decision to withdraw now. This is an important piece of work and it is imperative that we get it right,” he said.
The recommendation to withdraw will be made to the Council's Cabinet on 2 July. The final decision will be made at a Full Council meeting on 10 July.
