RUSHCLIFFE'S 'irresponsible' planning process does not defend the green belt and could cost £500,000, according to councillors.

Rushcliffe Borough Council binned its local plan – the blueprint which lays out which sites are suitable for development – in 2006 after a row about 1,200 new homes at Sharphill Woods in Edwalton.

It has never been replaced and councillors have now warned it has left the authority vulnerable to costly appeals by developers against its planning decisions and made it difficult to protect any part of the green belt.

This year Rushcliffe Borough Council has put aside £533,660 of taxpayers' cash because it expects developers to challenge its decisions on planning applications.

Leader Neil Clarke accepts the fighting fund is so high because there is no local plan.

Nottingham City Council has a £3,500 pot to fight planning appeals, while Gedling and Broxtowe Borough Council have nothing put aside at all.

Coun Chris Evans, leader of the Liberal Democrats at Rushcliffe, said: "It's irresponsible, we should have had one and we should have done it.

"Applications like Sharphill and the eco town we will struggle to oppose because we don't have the local plan."

Coun Clarke said: "It does leave the council open for more appeals because developers will see the council haven't got clearly allocated areas and therefore they're able to put in applications for various sites and say, 'the council hasn't got a local plan, we can put this site forward'. And it's more difficult to defend it then."

Coun George Davidson added: "It means the position of the borough council is very weak in regards of defending the green belt from developers.

"Until we have a valued defence in planning law then we're going to be subject to a number of planning appeals and the council has had to put aside a substantial amount of money for this fact."

Rushcliffe has two other large planning applications at Cotgrave Colliery and Hollygate Lane at Cotgrave, which the council has not yet made a decision on but which could also go to public inquiry.

When a planning application is turned down the developer can appeal and then it will then go before an independent inspector and the Secretary of State makes the final decision.

Coun Alistair MacInnes, leader of the Labour Party at Rushcliffe said: "It's not only the money that we need to set aside but we've lost the control of our local planning, it's decided by the secretary of state."

He added that the outcome of the Sharphill inquiry will set a precedent in Rushcliffe's planning process.

"The Conservative administration ignored us and opposed an independent view by a Government inspector and as a result jeopardised the future of Rushcliffe and has now put us in a perilous situation," Coun MacInnes said.

The council is now developing its local development framework, which has taken over from the local plan, and will identify areas for development.

However, it will not be in place until January 2012. A draft will be sent to the secretary of state in January 2011 and is expected to be finalised a year later.

The Government has said Rushcliffe must increase its housing by 35 per cent over the next 20 years, which amounts to 16,500 homes.

Coun Clarke said: "The borough cannot sustain such a vast building allocation, and we must do all we can to protect green-belt land against such large-scale development that the Government wishes to impose upon us."