A decision over plans for 550 new homes on a site which has stood empty for decades has been put on hold.
Members of Broadland District Council's planning committee had been due to discuss proposals for hundreds of houses on land around Thorpe St Andrew, in Norwich at a meeting on Wednesday (October 8) morning.
Developer Berliet Ltd was hoping to secure permission for 260 homes at the former Pinebanks site, 90 at Langley North, 70 at Langley South and 130 at Griffin Lane.
The application has sparked controversy and public protests, with neighbours worried about whether roads and infrastructure would cope with the new homes.
More a thousand people signed a petition objecting during the first round of consultations, while hundreds of individual objections were received over each of the four elements of the scheme.
Officers at Broadland had been recommending that councillors approve all but the 70 homes proposed at Langley South at their meeting on Wednesday.
But the matter was deferred before the meeting started, prompting Broadland district councillor Peter Berry, who represents Thorpe St Andrew North West and had objected to the plans, to ask why.
Officers said they had taken the "difficult decision" to defer the matter because Caroline Karimi-Ghovanlou, the chairman of the planning committee, was not well.
They said: "Because of some of the challenges with the chair being unwell, uncertainty over who would be chairing the meeting and the historic complexities of the application, officers made the difficult decision to defer that application."
They said the application would now be considered next month.
Pinebanks used to be home to the Norwich Union Sports and Social Club - the largest privately owned leisure facility in East Anglia, with some 10,000 members.
But the club was closed in 2008 and owners Aviva sold the land the following year.
Plans to redevelop the disused site were put forward in 2013 but never came to fruition.
Plans for the Pinebanks, Langley North, Langley South and Griffin Lane sites were submitted in early 2022 and later revised to reduce the proposed number of homes.
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