A special ministerial commission under the leadership of prime minister Dick Schoof has failed to draw up a plan to tackle the nitrogen pollution crisis by the end of March as pledged.

Schoof formed the commission in January, citing the “urgent problem” and the need to “force a breakthrough” in tackling nitrogen-based pollution which is impacting on farming, construction and industry. He pledged to come up with new plans within two months.

Instead, the 12-strong commission will publish the “first contours” of the plan later this spring, farm minister Femke Wiersma has told MPs in a briefing on Friday.

Tackling the problem is a “high priority” for the cabinet and that work has been almost completed on drawing up a complete inventory of all the issues, the minister said.

The problem with nitrogren-based pollution in the Netherlands has dogged politicians in The Hague for over six years now, and last week it emerged that 244,000 new homes may not be built because of the crisis.

The biggest sources of nitrogen-based pollution are fossil fuels, used in vehicles and energy generation, as well as farming, through the use of artificial and manure-based fertiliser.

Officials say the government needs to take tough measures to get the problem under control, but some ministers – including Wiersma – are unwilling to take steps which will have too great an impact on their own departments.

For example, BBB ministers, including Wiersma, have called for changes in the way nitrogen based pollution is calculated and have said any forced farm buy-outs is out of the question.

The situation has been made more urgent by two recent court rulings. In January, judges in The Hague ruled that the government must do more to prevent nitrogen-based damage to sensitive areas, ordering the state to cut nitrogen levels in at least 50% of the 162 Natura 2000 zones by 2030 or face a €10 million fine.

Last December, the Council of State also halted the practice of offsetting nitrogen emissions against each other to allow construction without a pollution permit.