MALDON District Council may need more than the 4,410 homes it has planned to build by 2031, it is claimed.
Planning inspector David Vickery has told the counci l its Local Development Plan (LDP) may be based on outdated information.
In a letter to the authority, Mr Vickery stated a number of concerns about the plan, including the number of houses, the speed of building them and the delivery of infrastructure.
The government-appointed planning inspector has identified that the council may have been using outdated information – from as far back as 2008 – to assess its housing needs and therefore underestimated the number needed.
In a letter sent to the authority on Tuesday last week, Mr Vickery wrote: "I realise that my concern will not be popular with either the council or local residents, but it has to be raised... [the housing requirement] may be higher if further work is needed to take account of possible underestimation.
"The plan's housing policies may be fundamentally flawed either because they do not allocate sufficient housing land, or because a credible planning policy case has not been made."
Mr Vickery also expressed concerns that the houses may not be built quickly enough to supply improvements to infrastructure – from a levy on the developers – particularly highways improvements to north Heybridge and the A414 at Limebrook Way.
He added: "Many of the comments indicate the need for significant infrastructure provision early on in developments, and so I am concerned about the viability of the plan's housing allocations when substantial upfront monies are likely to be required.
"In addition, there is no indication as to when some of the infrastructure is going to be provided.
"This means that I am not convinced, even with the information that the plan's allocations will have sufficient resources available from either the public or private sector to facilitate the delivery of their key infrastructure."
Kath Vale, chairman of the Save Maldon Action Group, told the Chronicle: "The letter made for interesting reading. It does seem strange that a few years ago there was talk of 8,000 homes and suddenly it dropped.
"It sort of confirms what we said all along, that the council should have considered a new settlement closer to the rail network and infrastructure.
"We also had concerns about the amount of affordable houses available that seems to be dropping."
Don Benson, chairman of Heybridge Residents' Association, remained concerned about infrastructure.
He said: "Let's hope that this LDP wasn't a total waste of time.
"It would seem that the council will struggle to raise enough money in the community infrastructure levy to provide the infrastructure we need.
"We've said for a very long time that we need better traffic measures and a flood alleviation scheme."
David Coleman, strategic planning policy manager at Maldon District Council, said in a reply to Mr Vickery: "The council is surprised and disappointed by the scope of the concerns that you have identified.
"The council was then satisfied that the LDP should be progressed with a housing target of 4,410 dwellings."
Today, the planning inspector will visit the council offices for a meeting at 11.30am, at which the public is welcome.
