A council has conceded it must press ahead and complete its housing blueprint despite telling the government its target for building new homes is “not acceptable”.

After a back-and-forth between Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council and the Planning Inspectorate, the Hertfordshire local authority has conceded it must accept the borough needs 15,200 new homes in the 20 years to 2036.

To achieve this, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council must agree to consider setting land aside for 428 new homes next to Brookmans Park Railway Station and 148 new homes off B156 Northaw Road East in Cuffley – sites which were included in a previous plan and were “found sound” by the government inspector.

A council report notes that if it no longer wants to consider these sites for development, councillors would have to abandon their drafts and start again.

At a meeting on Tuesday, December 20, cross-party politicians agreed to proceed to the next stage of the process, which is a public consultation on the draft plan.

Councillor Stephen Boulton, deputy leader of the council, said: “We have left no stone unturned, but because the inspector’s requirements fell on stony ground, that left a lot of stones to turn and that has taken a long time.”

Cllr Boulton added: “No one disputes that we need more housing in the borough.

“In this council alone, we have a waiting list of over 3,000, including over 1,800 for one-bedroom properties.

“House prices are too high – they’re too high in the South East and we need a greater supply.

“If we were to withdraw the plan, we would be open to greater likelihood of speculative applications on sites which are not included or partly included in the plan.”

Cllr Lynn Chesterman said more focus and detail is needed around how surrounding infrastructure will cope with new homes, much of which is the responsibility of other organisations such as Hertfordshire County Council, the NHS or National Highways.

She said: “I would not say this plan has been thorough. This has been a 10-year saga.”

“This whole plan doesn’t make sense. There’s no transport system. There’s no road system. All we’re talking about is building units.”

Councillors voted on whether to proceed with the public consultation 28 votes to six.