Senior councillors and the town’s mayor are expected to give the green light tonight to progress Watford’s Local Plan onto the next stage.

The Local Plan is a planning document that will shape the development of Watford over the next 15 years, identifying dozens of sites to build new homes and boost employment.

The plan, which has been drawn up by Watford Borough Council, went out to public consultation earlier this year.

The council’s Cabinet will meet from 7pm this evening (Monday July 5) where members will be asked to approve the plan to full council, before it is then taken to the Government Secretary of State.

The local plan has identified 61 sites in Watford that could be redeveloped to meet housing targets of nearly 800 homes a year over the next 15 years.

These range from retail parks to supermarket car parks, land at stations, garage sites at more.

By appearing in the local plan, it does not guarantee the site will definitely be redeveloped and planning applications will still be required – but the principle of development in that location will be supported.

The council has amended the plan period from 2018-2036 to 2021-2037 meaning the total number of housing units required would be reduced from 14,988 units to 13,171 units.

Politicians would like to see that number reduced further - Watford’s mayor Peter Taylor wrote to the Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick on June 29 where he essentially called for a reduction in the town’s housing targets.

Related: Watford mayor writes to Government calling for lower housing target

Despite large cries of overdevelopment in Watford, the official local plan consultation appears to have gathered a low level of response from residents, although engagement was hampered by Covid restrictions.

Official figures provided by the council show 82 organisations and individuals responded during the eight-week consultation earlier this year, but many of these were developers or companies based in Watford.

At least three resident associations responded, including Watford Town, Cassiobury, and Ridge.

The council says there were 72 supportive comments and 63 objections.

The council added representations related to a variety of issues and primarily focussed on growth strategy, housing, retail and the town centre, design, heritage, climate change, infrastructure, transport and site allocations.

Local plan documents ahead of tonight's meeting can be found on the agenda here.

The meeting will be streamed live here.