Last year Alton Town Council chose to defer progressing its Neighbourhood Plan to enable consideration of all sites in the updated Land Availability Assessment.

Now it is going to ask businesses, employers, schools, health authorities and community groups to tell it what a sustainable Alton could look like in 2050.

A council spokesperson said: “We will need help, particularly to understand the infrastructure requirements that will support a larger town, and will be engaging specialist help over the coming weeks.

“We will also be engaging a new planning consultant to guide us through the planning complexities and process.”

The council said it fully understood the challenge of building new homes but was determined to present a plan that was sustainable and justifiable.

The spokesperson added: “We believe that driving our vision for Alton 2050 is the best way to prevent piecemeal development that is not 'joined up' and often ignores critical infrastructure enablers.

“We look forward to engaging with all Altonians to set the vision.”

The Alton Neighbourhood Plan process began in May 2023, six months before the plan adopted in 2016 was due to expire.

It started well, with more than 300 people attending an exhibition at the Assembly Rooms over two days and leaving their feedback on sticky notes.

Four months later 350 people attended a similar two-day event at the Assembly Rooms which included some options for potential areas of housing development in Alton until 2050,

In December 2023 the Alton Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group thanked the public for its help so far and said it hoped for “constructive and copious feedback” during the next consultation period in April 2024.

But in September 2024 seven members of the steering group resigned after councillors deferred the next consultation to prepare a revised Draft Neighbourhood Plan to include all sites in the Land Availability Assessment.