SERIOUS concerns have been raised after Rushcliffe Borough Council slashed 4,000 off the number of homes it expects to build before 2026.
A Government planning inspector has sent the council a seven-page list of concerns, demanding more evidence to justify its proposals.
The previous Government set the council a target of 13,400 new homes, but the coalition promised to axe these targets, giving councils more freedom to set their own.
The original targets have not yet been legally removed but nevertheless, Rushcliffe submitted plans to build only 9,400 homes.
Jill Kingaby, the planning inspector appointed by the Government to examine Rushcliffe's plans, has expressed serious concerns about whether the plans meet all the legal requirements.
She said: "The justification for the proposed numbers of new housing is unclear" and added the plans will provide "substantially fewer" homes than originally sought.
She also questioned whether the council had even submitted a "sound plan" as so many late modifications were submitted very soon after.
"The number and depth of these changes from Rushcliffe is worrying," she said.
Since 2006 the council has only given permission for about 324 houses per year, which falls well short of the Government target of 750 per year and is described as a "high level of under-delivery" by Ms Kingaby.
The inspector also criticised the council's public consultation.
But Councillor Neil Clarke, leader of the Conservative council, said: "We are obviously disappointed by the planning inspector's remarks but later this week we will be providing a robust response to the comments she has made.
"I am extremely concerned and angry that if the Inspector doesn't feel that we have provided for enough housing to meet the need, then we will be forced, against our residents' wishes to undertake the very difficult task of allocating more land, which will probably have to be in the green belt.
"This is exactly the scenario councillors have been fighting to avoid for many years. I am anxious that the number of houses we may be required to plan for could radically alter the character of Rushcliffe that our residents cherish.
"What I find particularly frustrating is that I think we have developed a realistic and ambitious plan that will deliver the maximum number of houses that could possibly be built by 2026.
"The developers will have to build more houses every year for the next 13 years than has ever been achieved before, even in boom years.
"If the Inspector requires us to plan for lots more houses they will not be able to be built, so the plan won't be sound and it will just be an academic exercise."
He said it was "frustrating" that the housing targets had not been scrapped by the Government, and said: "We may now have to withdraw our plan and accept some delay whilst the Government completes the lengthy process of abolishing the ridiculous and unjustified housing targets imposed by the regional plan."