Changes to a masterplan for development in Bracknell including the removal of a 2,000 home ‘garden village’ previously proposed are set to go consultation.

Bracknell Forest Council has been devising a Local Plan for a number of years.

A Local Plan defines where the council would like houses to be built in its area over a period of at least 15 years.

Recently, the council’s draft proposals for where it would like to see the majority of developments take place was reviewed by the government’s planning inspectorate.

In something of a defeat for council planners, the inspectorate called for a proposal to build a 2,000 home garden village at Jealott’s Hill be deleted from the Local Plan entirely.

This was a major change to the draft Local Plan, and is one of the ‘main modifications’ government planning inspectors are allowed to suggest.

READ MORE: Activists celebrate victory as plan for 2,000 home garden village suffers blow

Now the council’s governing body is being asked to accept the main modifications and put them to a consultation.

Other main modifications suggested by government planning inspectors Louise Nurser and David Troy involve removing small sites Pope’s Meadow in Binfield and Lower Church Road in Sandhurst as places allocated for development.

These sites accounted for about 50 homes between them.

The decision to accept main modifications has been recommended to the council’s governing body, the executive committee, which is made up entirely of Conservatives.

Accepting the deletion of the 2,000 home garden village proposal at Jealott’s Hill has been recommended by the council’s director of place, planning and regeneration.

The executive committee has then been asked to approve a consultation on the changes which will last for six weeks over the summer.

The  committee does have the option of rejecting some or all of the proposed main modifications to the plan, or suggesting different modifications.

However, the council’s director of planning argued such changes would have to go back to the planning inspectorate, delaying the adoption of the Local Plan.

The suggested main modifications to the Local Plan were received by the council in January, with inspectors giving the verdict that it was ‘legal but unsound.’

READ MORE: Garden village scrapped after inspectors brand local plan 'legal but unsound'

Adoption of the main modifications would make the plan sound.

At the time, councillor Chris Turrell (Conservative, Harmans Water), executive member for planning, said: “Naturally, it is disappointing that the plan is not able to be adopted as it stands, especially as there were extremely important economic reasons why the Jealott’s Hill development was put forward.

“However, we are grateful to planning inspectors for their invaluable comments and the recognition that we have worked hard to create a plan that meets the future needs of our residents and businesses.

“We’re pleased they recognise it is legally compliant and could be adopted subject to some straightforward modifications. We are now working through all the recommendations and will soon consult on the changes to capture residents’ feedback.”

If the main modifications are accepted, enough sites have been allocated for development that would see 10,438 homes built for the minimum 15 years of the Local Plan (until 2037/38).

The changes will be discussed at the executive committee meeting on Tuesday, March 21.