Staffordshire Moorlands District Council is set to adopt its Local Plan next week, according to a newly-published recommendation by the authority's officers.

The plan outlines how the council will develop the Moorlands in order to comply with Government house building targets, and sets out how many houses will be built in different locations across the district between now and 2033.

Over 900 houses are due to be built in Biddulph during this time period, with areas of the town being removed from the Green Belt and earmarked for future housing developments.

The authority aims to adopt the plan in order to demonstrate to Government that it can provide an adequate number of new houses in the area over the coming years.

Upon demonstrating this, the council can avoid being subjected to severe planning penalties, which the Government can impose on local authorities who cannot show that they have the appropriate housing provisions set out.

Biddulph Nub News reported previously how the plan's inspector, Mark Dakeyne, ruled that the plan was ready for adoption provided that a number of modifications were made to it.

Now the council is set to approve the modifications and adopt the plan at a Council Assembly meeting next Wednesday (9th September).

A report presented to councillors ahead of the meeting recommends "the adoption of the Local Plan incorporating the Inspector's recommended main modifications and the Council's additional modifications."

It also recommends "to delegate approval to the Executive Director (Place) for the preparation of the Policies Map and any further additional modifications to the Local Plan that relate to factual updates, grammatical and formatting corrections."

Previously in the Local Plan process, the plan was originally declared "unsound" by inspector Mark Dakeyne due to an area of land near Biddulph Valley Way being marked for housing. This area was then removed from the plan.

However, the inspector's latest conclusion, received by the council in June, stated that the plan "provides an appropriate basis for the planning of the District, provided that a number of main modifications are made to it."

It added: "I conclude that, with the recommended main modifications set out in the Appendix, the Staffordshire Moorlands Local Plan satisfies the requirements of Section 20(5) of the 2004 Act and meets the criteria for soundness in the National Planning Policy Framework."

The main modifications were summarised into 12 main points near the beginning of the inspector's report, and laid out in full via supporting appendices in separate documents.

One of the points included deleting part of the Wharf Road development site which lies to the west of the Biddulph Valley Way from the plan, and retaining the land as Green Belt.

To read the report and its supporting documents in full, visit the Local Plan page of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council's website here.

To read the agenda and documents relating to next week's council meeting, click here.