BCP Council has suffered a major blow after independent inspectors appointed by the government said they could not support its draft local plan.
The lengthy document, submitted last year, sets out the council’s strategy for growth up to 2039 including allocating sites for 24,000 new homes and 72 hectares of employment land.
But in a letter to the council, inspectors Helen Hockenhull and Thomas Hatfield said the authority had “failed to engage constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis during the preparation of the plan so far as it relates to the strategic matter of housing.”
The inspectors concluded that they could not support the plan at Stage 1 of the examination.
They added: “We are aware that the council will be very disappointed with our findings.
“We have not come to this conclusion lightly, and we appreciate the amount of work that the council has put in to date to get the plan to the current stage.
“We await to hear from the council as to whether it proposes to withdraw the plan from examination.”
Cllr Millie Earl, BCP Council Leader, said: “We are disappointed with the inspectors’ response to our local plan submission.
“Members and officers worked hard to build a plan that represented the needs of our communities while supporting the national need to enable more homes to be built.
“We support the government’s ambition to tackle the housing crisis by increasing affordable, well-made housing.
“Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole benefit from being surrounded by a stunning coastline, a number of waterways and important, sensitive natural habitats.
“But this also means the area is limited in terms of available space to build new homes.
“We also raised that we think the government overestimated the housing need in our area and that we need national investment in our infrastructure to support more housing development.
“We are committed to working constructively with our communities, the government and our neighbouring authorities on a way forward.
“We will now consider the letter, take on board any feedback and respond to the inspectors with our next steps.”