POWICK development plans are being held up by delays in producing a draft Local Plan for the Malvern Hills District, claims a local landowner.

Thomas Hawkins, who submitted proposals for a site at Manor Farm, Powick, more than a year ago, is frustrated by what he describes as a "bureaucratic brake on progress."

He wants to turn 70 acres of farmland into a country park, has permission to turn stables and hop kilns into housing and would also like to build houses on a redundant farmyard, but his plans remain on hold in the absence of the draft Local Plan.

"We have suggested that our farmyard is a rural brownfield site and have submitted an idea for executive-type homes, with starter homes further out towards Upton, covering about two acres," he said.

"We put in our submission 15 months ago and understood a draft Local Plan would be available in March 2002.

"We were a bit disappointed when it was put back to July or August, but the latest information is November/December and now we are beginning to wonder whether it is ever going to come."

"We would like to know whether the scheme will be looked on favourably, or whether we should mend the roof of the old Dutch barn.

"It's where we store hay and straw, but it's close to the centre of the village and we want it to be considered for development as housing."

Gary Williams, head of planning services for Malvern Hills District Council, said a number of landowners around the district had put forward suggestions for changes in the present Local Plan.

These would not necessarily be approved, but objections could be heard at a Local Plan inquiry.

He said delays in producing the draft plan had been caused by the Government's demand for background studies to justify policies on a range of subjects from general development control to conservation and ecological issues or wider policies on energy, pollution and landscape.

"For example, our policy on affordable housing has to be underpinned by up-to-date housing needs assessments," he said.

"There has been a degree of slippage on all the Local Plans, because the policies that provide guidance are constantly shifting.

"It is now a case of bringing a number of threads together and getting the Local Plan strategy approved."