DELAYS to South Worcestershire’s planning blueprint have left the area’s infrastructure at breaking point, councillors claim.

But Wychavon District Council said the idea it has lost control of the planning system is "scaremongering".

A number of deadlines to submit evidence for the South Worcestershire Development Plan Review have been missed by the three councils working together to compile it - Wychavon, Malvern Hills and Worcester.

This means government planning inspectors have been unable to carry out an independent examination of the plan and decide whether it is lawful and deliverable.

Inspectors have now set final deadlines of October 31 to submit new evidence documents and December 31 to provide transport and infrastructure modelling.

They have even offered the councils the option of withdrawing the plan completely and starting again.

Inspectors said in their most recent letter to the councils: “Regrettably, the councils have not met your self-suggested targets … for the delivery of the updated evidence documents, and had not explained why until the most recent correspondence.”

Wychavon Liberal Democrats are calling a special meeting of the council to discuss the situation and agree a way forward that all councillors can agree on.

Group leader Dan Boatright-Greene said: “There seems to be a determination to ignore the facts on the part of the leadership at Wychavon District Council.

“They have already lost control of the planning system, with hundreds of homes now being built in locations never planned to have houses. Our infrastructure is now at breaking point, and no-one wants to take responsibility for their actions.

“The recent statement from the council is simply deluded. How can anyone be confident of submitting all the required information when not a single deadline has been met by the councils.

“It is the responsibility of Malvern Hills, Worcester and Wychavon councils to commission reports that are fit for purpose and conducted on time. To blame others for their failures is dereliction of duty.

“We are calling a special meeting so that councillors and residents can voice their concerns. We need to make sure the whole council is pushing the plan forward. The delays, unclear press releases and whitewashing of the situation must stop.”

Cllr Paul Middlebrough, executive board member for planning, infrastructure and urban design on Wychavon District Council, said: “To say we have lost control of the planning system in Wychavon is untrue and unhelpful scaremongering which distracts from the tremendous effort being put in by officers to meet the new deadline the inspectors have imposed.

“The overwhelming majority of the documents we are responsible for updating have already been submitted and we have absolute confidence the rest will be ready before October 31.

“To meet the December 31 deadline, we do need work to be completed by Worcestershire Highways and National Highways. That’s not buck passing that’s just a fact.

“We expect that information to arrive by early December and staff are ready and willing to sacrifice their Christmas break to make sure we get everything submitted on time.

“We’ve been open and transparent throughout about the challenges experienced getting the SWDPR to this stage.

“All political parties across the three councils, including the Liberal Democrats, are already putting all our effort into making sure we have a proper and robust plan in place for Wychavon, that delivers the housing needed with the appropriate infrastructure.”