Homes for Scotland (HFS) has urged councillors to stop "procrastinating" over the Edinburgh Local Development Plan (LDP).

The HFS wants the council to move forward with plans to avoid remaining vulnerable to "planning by appeal".

However the organisation believes the current draft plan falls short by over 6,500 homes.

Statistics for the first quarter of 2015 show house prices in Edinburgh rose by over 21% and rents increased by nearly 8% compared to last year.

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Scottish Ministers are currently making decisions on proposals to develop 750 homes.

However according to the strategic plan for South East Scotland, over 20,000 homes are to be built by 2024.

HFS Director of Planning, Nicola Barclay, said: "Edinburgh Council has had two attempts at drawing up its plan and has ignored the industry’s concerns over both the scale of the housing shortage and whether the sites it has identified for new homes can be developed within the time frames required.

"Whilst Homes for Scotland strongly believes that the huge shortfall in housing numbers is not being addressed by the draft plan, we are extremely concerned that further delay will only exacerbate house price inflation and the shortage of homes of all tenures across the city.

"The most positive thing the council can do at this stage is to send the plan onwards and allow the independent examination process to begin."

(LM)