A CRUCIAL development plan setting out plans for new houses in York is still in limbo two years after new parties took control of the council.

York’s Local Plan has been in development for many years, and City of York Council is now facing an initial Government-set deadline of Spring 2017 with no sign of a formal policy.

Leading councillors have been accused of not acting in the best interests of the city.

The plan should set out where houses can be built and where businesses can expand until 2030, and although many councils have already finalised and adopted their documents, York has faced a multitude of delays.

The most recent delays have been caused by the shock announcement that three Army bases in the city are to close, but five months on new proposals are still not ready.

Labour councillor David Levene, who sits on the Local Plan working group which is supposed to oversee and advise on the planning, said he has concerns about the slow progress, He said: “The lack of Local Plan progress from the ruling Tory-Lib Dem Coalition is clear for all to see. We warned them that their approach carried an unacceptable risk of failing to meet the original Spring 2017 Government deadline, and we are now two years into their administration and they’re nowhere near submitting a Local Plan for inspection.”

In January, the ruling executive committee was given an update on progress, but there have been no updates since and there are no meetings in the council’s calendar.

Cllr Levene added: “Continued delay represents a colossal failure by the coalition to act in the best interests of the city.

“Not only does it mean continued negligence in securing the new homes the city so desperately needs, but by failing to define a green belt it leaves it at massive risk of uncontrolled, speculative development. They and their inaction are a threat to what makes York special.”

The council did produce a draft version of the plan in 2015, but it was scrapped late that year when defections meant the Labour party dramatically lost control of the council and could no longer get policies through full council votes.

Since May 2016, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have been in joint control of the council and had been working on another draft, but that had to go back to the drawing board when the Ministry of Defence announced the barracks closures.

The lack of a Local Plan has been blamed for long delays on major housing developments - like the Civil Services Sports Field for which developers have been waiting for permission to build hundreds of houses since late 2014.

Cllr Nigel Ayre, the Lib Dem chairman of the Local Plan Working Group, said they had to look seriously at the Army sites, and whether they could be suitable for new housing.

Not taking the time to look at them properly would risk any plan being seen as unsound, or being challenged in the courts, he added, and when the closures were announced in November that added around another six months of work.

“I am surprised that the Labour group don’t seen to be taking this into account when making unnecessary political points,” he said.

Cllr Ayre said they are aiming for a Local Plan consultation later this summer, and planning staff are at the same time working through February’s Housing White Paper.

He added: “We are fully committed to continuing to progress a local plan for the city that prioritises brownfield development over the use of green belt and ensures both housing for residents whilst protecting the character of the city, unlike Labour’s previous Local Plan.”

The council has to respond to the White Paper by the end of May, a spokesman said, and staff are working towards that deadline.