Controversial plans for hundreds of new homes in Haddenham and Witchford were withdrawn at the 11th hour by planning officials in the interest of “fairness”.

East Cambridgeshire District Council’s planning committee had been due to rule on an application for 228 new homes submitted by Cheshire-based developer, Gladman, at its last meeting, on July

Planning officials at the council had recommended that both sets of plans were refused by councillors.

But, just days before the meeting, officers decided to withdraw the plans from the meeting following questions raised about its local plan – a document which sets outs the council vision for house building, population growth and new infrastructure over the next generation.

The query was raised by a planning inspector, who reviewed the document earlier in the year.

As the council was still in discussion with the inspector, planning officers decided that it would not be fair on Gladman to consider its plans without “all the information” being available to members of the committee.

A spokesman for the district council said: “We are currently in discussions with the planning inspector who is looking through our local plan regarding a question he has raised.

“To ensure fairness to developers and to allow members to have all the information they would need to make decisions we felt it was right to defer the applications to a future planning meeting.”

The inspector has been due to publish his report to the council last Friday.

No date has been set for this application to be determined by the planning committee.

Gladman wants to build 128 homes north of Field End, in Witchford, and a further 100 homes in nearby Haddenham. In both cases, villagers have raised repeated concerns about the extra traffic and size of the developments.