Central Bedfordshire council has put a promised review of its nearly 2,000 homes-a-year local plan indefinitely on hold, citing factors including the government’s decision to reform planning rules.

The decision makes the South east authority the latest to put local plan formation work on hold at least in part due to Michael Gove’s planning reforms, with more than a dozen councils now delaying work since the housing secretary backed down on housing targets in the face of backbench Tory rebels in December.

It comes as both Cotswold and Gravesham authorities have also revealed they have put back their plan-making timetables, though neither have explicitly linked their decisions to the government’s proposed reforms.

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