CIVIC chiefs have been threatened with government action after failing to come up with a framework for their housing plan.

Bosses at Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC) have been told that they have ten weeks to explain why they don’t have a Local Plan on housing after ‘failing their duty’, or face the government stepping in to do it for them.

A Local Plan is a long-term blueprint for future housing developments which guides decisions on planning applications.

Their target was to deliver 16,250 homes by 2036, but a previous Local Plan for 2011-2036 was thrown out by a government inspector in 2014.

The council has therefore not had an approved Local Plan for the last six years or any plan for the last three years.

They are one of only 15 authorities that have been written to by Communities and Local Government Minister Sajid Javid, asking for an explanation to ‘justify the failure’.

In the letter, the Minister said: “I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to outline any exceptional circumstances, by January 31, which justify the failure of your council to produce a Local Plan. I would like to hear of any measures that the authority has taken, or intends to take, to accelerate plan publication.”

Council leader Keith House said getting it right was more important than seeing it done quickly, with the council failing to meet the deadlines outlined in the 2004 act.

He said: “We have been working hard to establish the right principles and the right sites for future development in the borough.

“We will be making a decision on our local plan at our council meeting on December 11. Getting it right is more important than doing it fast. We are determined to get the right quality and mix of homes in the right places.”

MP Mims Davies said the council had received plenty of warnings.

She said: “This has had a direct impact upon our local area, its infrastructure and therefore upon the lives of my constituents.

“Instead of benefitting from a clearly set out plan which sets out where development can and cannot take place, we have witnessed the onslaught of approval of speculative applications.”

Leader of the Conservative group at EBC, councillor Judith Grajewski said: “I take no pleasure in seeing us move a step closer toward the responsibility for making a plan taken away from the council. The last plan expired in 2011 and millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been spent on failing to get a new plan.”