A meeting of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's (BDBC) cabinet on Tuesday, November 11, saw frustrated councillors reach an agreement to send the draft Local Plan to public consultation - known as the Regulation 18 consultation.
Cabinet members came under fire from members of the public who criticised BDBC for selecting areas such as Upper Swallick, near Cliddesden, as likely locations for thousands of houses, but the councillors insisted they had no choice in the matter, as the Labour government increased its housing target.
This comes nearly two years after the council agreed to take its original draft plan to public consultation.
Cllr Andy Konieczko said: "The most significant new development has been the change of government, with its clearly stated desire to 'build, baby, build'.
"For us here in Basingstoke and Deane, that has meant a significant jump in the housing target that our next Local Plan needs to meet. From around 830 new houses per year under the old rule, to around 1,150 now.
"I'll be the first to admit that developing this draft Local Plan has been a real challenge. It's involved us making some very difficult decisions and, as a result, sites have been added that were kept out of previous iterations. I don't take any pleasure from that."
Cllr Konieczko explained that the "difficult" decions the council has made are " better than the alternative of either allowing rampant speculative development, or having our planning powers taken from us by the government."
The decision to send the draft Local Plan is not a decision to approve any planning applications contained within the plan itself. Cllr Konieczko said these decisions are still "years away".
What it does mean is that two further rounds of public consultation will take place, giving the people of Basingstoke and Deane a chance to have their say in shaping the development.
In the vast majority of cases, BDBC won't be carrying out development itself, but the council will make money from housing developments.
The government has set all local planning authorities a deadline of December 2026 to submit Local Plans for review, which gives the council roughly 12 months to complete the final plan.
Cllr Konieczko added: "Interestingly, the government won't tell us what will happen if we miss that deadline - we've asked, and they've refused to answer - but it's unlikely to be good news for us.
"At the very best, we'll end up having to submit a new Local Plan under a system that's likely to give us even fewer decision-making powers than this one.
"At the very worst, the government may decide to make the Local Plan for us. Neither of those options is good news for our borough's residents, so we need to crack on."