UNCERTAINTY surrounds when the draft local plan will be submitted to Government – as tight-lipped council chiefs face pressure to scrap ‘illogical’ green belt proposals.

The proposed garden suburb in south Warrington is one of the key development areas set out in the Labour-run authority’s 20-year document.

Appleton is located immediately to the west of the site and Grappenhall to the north – with the M56 and M6 bordering land to the south and east of it.

The suburb is planned to deliver 7,400 homes and a major new employment site at the junction of the M6 and M56.

If the plan is approved, around 5,100 homes would be built up until 2037, including around 4,200 on green belt land.

A further 2,300 homes would be constructed after 2037.

The council aimed to submit the draft local plan to the secretary of state for independent examination in autumn this year, with an examination in public anticipated to take place in ‘early 2020’.

The final decision will be made by an independent planning inspector, appointed by the Government, following the examination.

However, the authority will be required to make the formal decision to adopt the plan.

But uncertainty is mounting over when it will be submitted to the secretary of state and put before an inspector.

It was hoped it would come before full council in December, prior to being sent off, but the authority is currently unable to confirm if this will happen.

Town Hall chiefs have highlighted the ‘complexity’ of the matter and emphasised the need to put a ‘proper’ plan before the inspector.

At this month’s leader’s forum, council leader Cllr Russ Bowden (LAB – Birchwood) said around 3,500 responses were submitted during the draft local plan consultation.

But the council says ‘we are still reviewing the representations’.

A spokesman added: “Once we have analysed and fully understand all of the responses, we will be able to provide more information on proposals, next steps and timescales.”

Cllr Ryan Bate (LD – Grappenhall) has raised concerns over the draft local plan, particularly proposals for the garden suburb, which he labelled as ‘disjointed and illogical’.

He added: “We talk about housing being co-located with jobs – that is wonderful if the housing which is going to be built in the garden suburb is going to be affordable for the people who work in largely logistics-based jobs because the vast majority of economic activity land in the local plan is going to be for logistics-based jobs.

“For all the comments we hear that there will be range of jobs, in terms of wages and skillset, a very significant number of them will go to people who could not afford to live in houses currently in south Warrington.

“That will be more executive homes in the style we currently have across south Warrington and we will just further the divide in the town and we will also add to the traffic and infrastructure chaos.”