A Conservative councillor in Wokingham has accused the Liberal Democrats of 'lethargy or incompetence' in setting key housing policies.

The Lib-Dem run Wokingham Borough Council has not yet published the local plan for housing, which sets out how the authority will deliver housing and development over the next 15 years.

It has been a point of contention between parties in the council for years – with Conservatives repeatedly criticising the executive for failing to produce a plan, leading to ‘inappropriate levels of development’.

And tensions are likely to continue at this week’s Wokingham Borough Council meeting on Thursday, July 25.

Cllr Dave Edmonds has submitted the question to the leader of the council, Stephen Conway: “This council has now been led by the Liberal Democrat or Liberal Democrat led coalition for over two years.

“In this time there has been a complete failure to finalise and present a local plan to this council which has led to numerous inappropriate planning applications. Is this failure a result of legarthy or incompetence?”

Another conservative councillor, Pauline Jorgensen, has also asked the leader to provide an update on when the draft local plan will be published.

But the draft is near completion and can soon be put to the council, according to leader Stephen Conway.

After that, it will be subject to a planning enquiry chaired by a government-appointed planning inspector.

Cllr Conway wrote in the News this week that the current administration inherited a draft local plan from the conservatives, who lost control of the council in 2021. He added that their work on the new local plan had started ‘as long ago as 2015’.

But he hinted that little could be changed over what was already decided by the Conservatives, before his party took power. This meant that key decisions already made are unlikely to be changed unless ‘in the most unusual circumstances’.

He also said that on planning policies, the Lib Dems had the ‘opportunity to greatly improve on the draft plan that we inherited’.

Conservative councillors have also been at the forefront of campaigns against large developments in Finchampstead, including a recent plan to build 40 houses on a field.

The answers to questions will be published ahead of the full council meeting this Thursday, but councillors will have the opportunity to ask a supplementary question in which an answer cannot be prepared.

The full council meeting will be on Thursday, July 25.