LAST September, a cross-party group of councillors sat down to begin the long, weary job of trying to finally agree a draft local plan for York.

The local plan working group was made up of four Labour members, four Conservatives, three Lib Dems, one Green and one independent. Not a recipe for quick decision-making.

The council's Tory leader Chris Steward insisted progress would be rapid, however. The working group would meet every month until a draft was agreed, he said.

It hasn't turned out like that. Today, we reveal that the committee hasn't met for months. There are now fears that if the council doesn't get on with things, Whitehall will step in.

It has warned councils that unless they agree local plans by next year, they will have one imposed upon them.

This all matters. A local plan is supposed to set out where new homes and businesses can be built over the next 15 years. It provides a vital framework to help shape the way a city develops.

Yet unbelievably, York hasn't had one since 1954. Repeated changes in political fortunes have meant no administration has been able to push one through before being voted out of office.

It is a crazy situation. In it's latest council budget, York's ruling Conservative- Lib Dem alliance at least set aside £350,000 to push ahead with work on the plan.

But with the working group not even meeting, what use is that?

Whatever the problems are, they need to be sorted out quickly. York's local plan is too important to be derailed by political squabbling.