Major worries after planning inspectors abruptly halt hearings into Shropshire Council's Local Plan over 'serious soundness concerns'

The developments will cause serious worries at Shirehall, with inspectors cancelling a raft of hearings scheduled for the coming weeks.

The Local Plan is one of the council's most important policies and sets out locations across the authority's area where housing and commercial developments are recommended to take place up until 2038.

The proposed local plan is made up of a combined 31,300 homes over that time-frame and 320 hectares of employment land.

Shropshire's plan has already faced significant delays, with inspectors confirming earlier this year that they did not expect it to be approved and adopted before 2025.

Why is the local plan so important?

An up-to-date local plan is vital for councils to control where developments are built.

Without an approved plan, and the agreed framework against which to judge planning applications, council's face greater difficulty in rejecting proposed developments.

Hearings into Shropshire's local plan resumed this month. They have included a focus on the controversial area of 'duty to co-operate' - where the council has been asked to provide space for homes for councils in the Black Country who say they do not have enough room themselves.

But it has now emerged that planning inspectors Louise Crosby and Elaine Worthington are so concerned about the state of Shropshire's local plan that they have stopped proceedings entirely.