A council is on the brink of abandoning a controversial housing plan which would have earmarked greenbelt sites for development.

After two years work, Mole Valley District Council is set to ditch its unfinished Housing and Traveller Sites Plan to the guarded relief of countryside campaigners.

The council is now expected to go back to the drawing board and start work on a wide-ranging Local Plan which will include finding out how many homes will actually be needed locally.

Communities have voiced opposition to any loss of greenbelt and last month Community Secretary Eric Pickles made a stand and said "protecting our precious greenbelt must be paramount".

At a press briefing on Monday Councillor John Northcott, executive member for planning, said he would recommend their new course of action at a meeting of the executive on Tuesday, December 9.

Coun Northcott said there has been an increase in the number of homes granted planning permission and there were a "healthy" number in the pipeline.

He said: "This has led me to believe that there is no immediate need to contemplate using greenbelt land for new homes."

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Councillor John Northcott

But he added: "I recognise the delivery of affordable housing is likely to be reduced in the short term and that the difficult issue of providing sites for gypsies and travellers remains unresolved."

Coun Northcott said he was also concerned that a Planning Inspector would deem the Housing and Traveller Sites Plan unsound because it had not assessed the need for homes.

The council had been using an increasingly outdated house building target for 2006 to 2026, which was prescribed by a now abolished regional strategy based on Govermnent figures.

To hit this target, Mole Valley would have needed to build nearly 2,000 more homes and the council had looked at about 90 possible sites while developing their plan.

When asked how he felt to be recommending that this plan should be in effect be scrapped, Councillor Northcott replied: "Not scrapped.

"It is a huge body of evidence which will be required in the Local Plan and will still be largely current. So it would be entirely wrong to give the impression it is being wasted.

"We are just going to use it for a different and more long-lasting purpose."

James Lalor, interim corporate head responsible for planning, said: "I think it demonstrates our ability to adapt to changing circumstances and take into the consideration the views that have been expressed by the Government and the community."

"And the fact more planning applications have come through...than we had reason to expect," Coun Northcott added. The councillor and council officers were unable to say how much it has cost to develop the Housing and Traveller Sites Plan so far.

But Jack Straw, planning policy manager, said three officers had spent a majority of their time on the plan and accompanying greenbelt boundary review since the back end of 2012.

It is believed that the Local Plan will take a further two to three years to develop.

In response to the abandonment of the plan, Andy Smith, Surrey branch director for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said: "It’s mixed news.

"We are relieved that there is no immediate threat to a lot of greenbelt areas that were part of the Housing and Travellers Sites Plan.

"But we are mindful that we are going to have to work closely with Mole Valley Council, local residents and community groups to resist any potentially higher housing figures further down the line."

December 2013: Greenbelt sites earmarked for potential housing developments

March 2014: Hundreds of homes proposed for swathes of greenbelt around