A MAJOR document showing where tens of thousands of homes will be built across the county in the next 20 years will not be approved for at least another two years, it has been revealed.

The first review of the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) – which was supposed to have already been made open to the public and approved by November this year –will now not be ready until at least next June according to a new timetable published by Worcestershire’s three southern district councils.

The delay is due to sewerage, transport and power infrastructure providers not sending through information, the councils said.

The new timetable now shows Worcester City Council, Malvern Hills District Council and Wychavon District Council expects the revisions and additions to the SWDP to not be made available for the public to have its say until July 2022 ahead of its submission to the government for approval later that year.

The council then expects the document to have been checked over and verified by the government’s planning inspectors by May 2023 – but could still face further delays if inspectors are not available.

The hope is that it is then approved by councillors at all three councils and then adopted in October 2023 – almost two years later than first expected.

Cllr Tony Rowley, chair of the SWDP joint advisory panel, said: “We have had to take the difficult decision to delay the review of the SWDP for reasons outside of our control.

“We are working hard to make sure the necessary work is completed as soon as possible and there are no more delays.”

The review – which sets out where more an extra 14,000 homes will be built across Worcester, Malvern Hills and Wychavon by 2041 – was supposed to be made public earlier this year but has now been pushed back even further to allow for more studies to be carried out.

Plans to build thousands more homes will be included as part of the review and on top of the 28,400 already in the first SWDP.

The revised SWDP includes a new 5,000 home village next to Worcestershire Parkway railway station, a new 2,000-home town at Throckmorton Airfield near Pershore and an extra 1,000 homes in Rushwick.

The major document also includes plans to build 810 more homes across Worcester, 880 homes in Malvern, 200 homes in Evesham and 600 homes in Pershore.