A MUCH-anticipated planning meeting to decide whether controversial plans to build 98 homes on green belt can go ahead has been delayed.

Residents and campaigners were preparing to come out in force at the arranged meeting on December 15 in which the planning committee was set to debate and make a decision about the proposals from Jones Homes, which wants to build on the Last Drop Village near Hospital Road.

However, it has been revealed that the planning meeting will no longer go ahead on that scheduled date and will instead be rearranged for a new date in the new year.

It is understood that the applicant is currently working on a full drainage scheme and is considering which of the plots involved will be offered as affordable housing.

This may result in some changes to the layout of the proposed plan and means the application is not currently ready to be presented to committee members next month.

The Jones Homes plan has not gone down well with local people in Bromley Cross since it was first announced in October.

A public meeting that was held to discuss the concerns of residents earlier this month had to be split across two venues because of the huge number of people who turned out.

Amongst the top concerns are the impact the scheme will have on the already struggling local road network as well as the drainage issues which are still under discussion.

Bromley Cross Cllr David Greenhalgh said he thinks the delay means that the developer must not have submitted an ‘adequate’ report looking at the drainage issues.

He said: “It looks like the report has basically been sent back to the developer because it must need more information, the drainage on that field is a really big problem.”

He added: “This does mean that local people have more time to submit their objections to this plan to the council, even though the official deadline for this has passed - they can still send them and I would urge them to.”

A new date for the planning meeting has not been revealed, although Cllr Greenhalgh said he thinks it would be likely that the plans could be discussed at the January committee.