Examination of Stroud's draft Local Plan has been officially paused.

Government inspectors have agreed to give Stroud District Council (SDC) 10 months to resolve far-reaching problems with the document which sets out development in the area for the next 20 years.

Council bosses were blindsided in August when Government officials said the plan should be withdrawn as it was not fit for purpose.

They had spent four years developing the document with residents and experts to ensure they could meet Government housing targets without developers riding roughshod over the countryside.

Hearings began last summer to judge whether it was ''sound' and 'legally compliant' but were halted after inspectors raised serious doubts about the plan.

They said a "significant proportion" of development sites may not have a realistic prospect of being delivered within the plan period. They suggested the process may need to step back "several stages" to ensure the plan was viable.

Their three main concerns were the capacity of M5 Junctions 12 and 14, the viability of the proposed pedestrian and cycle bridge over the motorway at Wisloe and the viability of public transport options at Sharpness.

Council bosses did not agree the plan needed to go back to the drawing board but instead requested a six month pause to deal with the issues raised.

Inspectors have spent months corresponding with Stroud District Council, National Highways, Gloucestershire County Council and South Gloucestershire Council in order to decide the way forward.

This week leaders of the progressive alliance running Stroud District Council announced they had been given until December 5 to get the plan into shape.

Seven months will be used to resolve road- and transport-related issues with the relevant authorities and the final three months will be used for a public consultation.

In their letter to the council, Inspectors said: "We wish to emphasise that we are keen to continue to work proactively with SDC throughout the duration of this examination.

"However, we would also like to state, at this stage, that whilst we have agreed to a pause of the examination and will continue to adopt a pragmatic approach on its resumption, this of course, cannot guarantee that the plan will ultimately be found sound."

Cllr Catherine Braun, leader of the council and the Green group, said: "We are very pleased that our request has been granted by the Inspectors. They know that we are committed to resolving any outstanding issues with this draft Local Plan, so that it can be adopted, to provide protection to our local communities from speculative development.

"Local residents look to us to control the location and quality of new housing and economic development sites, and to ensure that new homes are built for people, not profit."

In January Conservative councillors called for the draft plan to be withdrawn completely but Alliance leaders said this would have been "disastrous" and

Cllr Natalie Bennett, deputy leader of the council and leader of the Independent Left group, said: "Withdrawing the draft Plan would have left Stroud district without a local plan for years, allowing developers to play the planning system and guaranteeing approval of speculative housing developments on appeal, without the required infrastructure, and with lower building and environmental standards."

Cllr Robin Layfield, leader of the Community Independents group, called on the opposition to now get behind the plan.

The Government requires all local authorities to work towards having up to date local plans in place and has recently blocked four councils from trying to withdraw their local plans from the inspection process.

Cllr Ken Tucker, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said when complete the plan would "lock in strong community and environmental protections".