Just 129 people responded to Havering Council’s public consultation on its housing plans for the next 13 years, a new report has revealed.

The council’s cabinet members are due to discuss the results of the consultation on the Local Plan, which opened on August 7 and ran until September 29, at a meeting at Havering Town Hall next Wednesday.

The Local Plan sets out the council’s vision and strategy for future growth and sustainable development up to 2031.

From the 129 responses the local authority received, 466 comments were taken on board, and over the course of working on the plan 83 sites within Havering’s green belt have been submitted to the council for potential release – meaning, should such a release be approved, building on those sites would no longer be prohibited.

As the consultation continued, a number of the borough’s traveller families, who had previously refused to cooperate with officers, provided enough details to have their own needs assessed and included within the plan.

As a result of this, a number of sites where traveller families were already established have been added to the plan, to allow the council to continue assessing those communities’ needs.

The council’s report to cabinet members reads: “This matter comes before members as a matter of some urgency since the council is currently without an up-to-date adopted local plan.

“The necessary conclusion of budgetary matters in the months ahead means that the time available to the council to give consideration to matters relating to the local plan is necessary limited.”

Should the changes be approved by the cabinet, the up-to-date Local Plan will go before Havering’s full council at a meeting on January 24.

Once a decision is made regarding the proposed modifications to the plan, council officers will finalise the document before submitting it to the Secretary of State.

The council hopes to make its submission by February at the latest.