COUNCILLORS are being recommended to agree to carry on with Colchester's Local Plan, despite concerns over the viability of Garden Communities.

Colchester Council's local plan committee is due to meet on August 13.

Three options will be laid out to councillors on what action to take, after the planning inspector found the garden villages plans to be 'unsound'.

The options are:

- To remove the garden communities from the plan and continue on with the rest of it, before coming back to garden communities in three years time

- To carry on with the local plan following completion of further work

- To create an entirely new local plan

Officers have recommended the second option, that garden communities continue to be part of the plan.

It could delay the local plan process by up to a year.

A report said: "A jointly agreed decision from Braintree, Colchester and Tendring councils on the preferred option for plan-making is required to enable progress on the Local Plan.

"The officer decision to recommend Option 2 reflects detailed consideration by all three authorities and advice on options from the council’s legal advisor on Local Plan matters.

"Both Braintree and Tendring councils have taken the decision to proceed with Option 2."

The council submitted its local plan for examination to the Planning Inspectorate on October 9.

The planning inspector raised concerns over transport, viability, sustainability, housing delivery and employment provision within garden communities.

The report added: "The councils have been given a clear steer on the additional evidence required to achieve a sound plan and have initiated further work."

Option 2 would involve the councils carrying out more research, meaning there will be some delay on delivering the local plan.

However, the report said Option 1, to remove garden communities from the plan at this stage, would result in a fundamental change to the plan.

Option 2 is considered to involve a lesser level of delay, of between nine and 12 months.

Additional evidence base work on transport and viability may not be completed until October, with further sustainability appraisal work being completed in November.

The revised evidence base will then be considered by the end of the year, with a consultation going out in January.

A submission will go to the planning inspector in February and there will have to be further modifications, meaning the local plan will not be adopted until April 2020.

The report added: "There is a lot of work already undertaken that the councils can be proud of and this has been recognised at the highest levels."

A final decision has not yet been made.