Castle Point, Thanet and Wirral councils will now be assessed by government experts to see if the government needs to take over the process of producing a local plan.
Defined in the National Planning Policy Framework, local plans should set out the opportunities for development in an area and clear policies on what will or will not be permitted and where.
In November 2017, the government said it would consider intervention at 15 local authorities that had failed to produce a local plan. Each was given until January 31 to present extenuating circumstances as to why they had no plan.
Providing an update in a written statement on Monday, communities secretary Sajid Javid said three would face intervention.
The remaining 12 had either already published their plan or committed to publishing it before the end of September 2018.
Northumberland has been instructed by the government to produce its plan earlier and to make the timetable clear.
Javid said: “Whilst most councils rightly recognise their responsibilities and most have worked hard to meet the housing challenge, some have failed.
“I expect those authorities we identified in November to continue to make progress.
“I’m also stepping it up with three councils in particular, sending in a team of experts to make a direct assessment, ensuring they plan properly for the future or we’ll have to do it for them.”
The 15 local authorities and their local plan progress:
Draft local plan now published
Liverpool
North East Derbyshire
Runnymede
York
Progress being made, MHCLG monitoring
Basildon
Bolsover
Brentwood
Calderdale
Eastleigh
Mansfield
St Albans
Asked to produce a clearer timetable and accelerate plan production
Northumberland
Facing intervention
Castle Point
Thanet
Wirral
Read CIPFA CEO, Rob Whiteman’s blog ‘Fixing the housing system’.
