A MOTION to withdraw support for Wrexham's Local Development Plan (LDP) has been postponed.

The plan is the major housing blueprint setting out where around 8,000 new homes could be built in the county borough, along with preferred locations for employment and Gypsy and Traveller sites.

In September, Plaid Cymru councillors Carrie Harper, Marc Jones, Gwenfair Jones and Phil Rees submitted a motion to December's full council meeting calling for the withdrawal of Wrexham Council's support for the LDP due to a number of issues. They called the plan flawed and claimed it did not meet the needs of the people of Wrexham.

Last month, the long-delayed housing blueprint was thrown into further turmoil when Leader of Wrexham Council Mark Pritchard's independent group withdrew its support.

It followed inspectors raising “very serious reservations” over the way land for a Gypsy and Traveller site was allocated within Alyn Waters Country Park in Llay

A Wrexham Council spokesman said: "In September, a motion to withdraw support for the Local Development Plan (LDP) was submitted by four Wrexham councillors.

"It was initially thought that this motion would be able to be considered at the Council meeting on December 16.

"However, after obtaining expert external legal opinion, it’s clear the motion shouldn’t be considered until the independent examination of the LDP by Welsh Government inspectors is complete.

"In other words, we need to wait until the inspectors have finished."

The explanation for the postponement is to protect the council from acting unlawfully.

The spokesperson added: "The reason for this, is that any decision to withdraw support while the examination is still ongoing puts the council at risk of undermining an important legal process.

"So by postponing the motion, we’re protecting the council from a course of action that could lead to it acting unlawfully.

"It’s important to understand that the motion isn’t being stopped from going to Council for debate, it’s just being postponed.

"Once the independent examination is complete, the motion can be included on the agenda at a meeting of the Council and considered alongside the recommendations in the inspectors’ report.

The local authority’s first attempt to gain approval for its LDP failed in 2012 after the Planning Inspectorate said housing numbers should be raised to 11,700.