Wrexham’s Local Development Plan placed on hold because of general election

A major housing blueprint for Wrexham has been placed on hold because of the upcoming general election.

Wrexham Council voted to send its proposed Local Development Plan (LDP) to an inspector appointed by the Welsh Government last year.

The document outlines areas where up to 8,000 houses could be built in the county and its validity was placed under the microscope during a series of public hearings held this autumn.

The planning inspectors who oversaw the process said they were intending to write to the authority this month to ask further questions on housing figures and the selection of Gypsy and Traveller sites before issuing a final report.

However, they have now delayed the process until after next month’s polling day because of restrictions placed on civil servants during the build up.

In a letter to the council’s planning department, assistant inspector Melissa Hall said: “There are some outstanding matters on which we require clarification and further information, specifically in relation to housing requirement and allocations and site selection for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation.

“As we indicated immediately after the hearings, we were setting these out in a note which would have been sent to you last week had the general election not been called.

“As civil servants we are subject to The Civil Service Code which continues to apply during the pre-election period.

“As our note could be construed as indicating our findings, albeit tentative, on various contentious matters, it is necessary to withhold it until after the election is held.

“Our note will set out the matters on which we require further information, a list of questions and a suggested timetable for your response.

“In our view it would be expedient to suspend the examination during the response period and the suggested timetable will take this into account.”

The inspectors said their latest note would now be delivered to the council by 18 December 2019.

By Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme).