THE public consultation into Torbay's new Core Strategy planning blueprint for the next 20 years has been delayed until the spring.

The first draft of the strategy was supposed to have been produced shortly after last May's council elections and was due to go out to public consultation last September/October.

Deputy mayor Cllr David Thomas said there were two reasons for the delay.

He said that those local authorities around the country which had got their Core Strategy completed on time had run into difficulties because of policy changes by the new coalition Government.

These included scrapping the controversial Regional Spatial Strategy, which set a target of 15,000-plus new homes in Torbay.

"We have always had 10,000 as our maximum, as opposed to the 15,000 to 20,000 we were fighting," Cllr Thomas said.

"The Government effectively scrapped that and the Neighbourhood Planning Forums were introduced.

"Those local authorities which already had their Core Strategy in place found there was major conflict between the two, which have to dovetail.

"With the new Localism Act being introduced, it is dreadfully important that the Neighbourhood plans and Core Strategy fit together."

Cllr Thomas said there was a second reason for the delay in Torbay's Core Strategy, as it was now being re-written in layman's terms.

He said: "When members started trying to read it we found that it was written as a legal document which is hard to understand.

"We asked 'Are the public going to be able to constructively comment if they don't understand it fully?'.

"Now we are looking to produce an executive summary.

"That is taking considerable time because at the moment everyone is working towards making the £11million budget savings.

"We have never been in this situation before with such draconian cuts.

"Now we anticipate it will be published in the spring, hopefully."