diff --git a/integration/common_test.go b/integration/common_test.go
index 4254acb1e6b..1c74cd11ef6 100644
--- a/integration/common_test.go
+++ b/integration/common_test.go
@@ -71,3 +71,16 @@ func eksctlFail(args ...string) *gexec.Session {
 	Expect(session.ExitCode()).To(Not(Equal(0)))
 	return session
 }
+
+//eksctlStart starts running an eksctl command, waits 45 seconds, but doesn't wait for it to finish the command
+//This is primarily so that we can run eksctl create ... and then subsequently call eksctl delete on the same cluster.
+func eksctlStart(args ...string) error {
+	cmd := exec.Command(eksctlPath, args...)
+	fmt.Fprintf(GinkgoWriter, "calling %q with %v\n", eksctlPath, args)
+	err := cmd.Start()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	time.Sleep(45 * time.Second)
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/integration/createdeletebeforeactive_test.go b/integration/createdeletebeforeactive_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5f17e686ce7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/createdeletebeforeactive_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+// +build integration
+
+package integration_test
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	awseks "github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/eks"
+	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+
+	"github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/pkg/ctl/cmdutils"
+	"github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/pkg/testutils/aws"
+	. "github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/pkg/testutils/matchers"
+)
+
+var _ = Describe("(Integration) Create & Delete before Active", func() {
+	const (
+		initNG = "ng-0"
+		testNG = "ng-1"
+	)
+
+	Describe("when creating a cluster with 1 node", func() {
+		var clName string
+		Context("for deleting a creating cluster", func() {
+			It("should run eksctl and not wait for it to finish", func() {
+
+				fmt.Fprintf(GinkgoWriter, "Using kubeconfig: %s\n", kubeconfigPath)
+
+				if clName == "" {
+					clName = cmdutils.ClusterName("", "") + "-delb4active"
+				}
+
+				eksctlStart("create", "cluster",
+					"--verbose", "4",
+					"--name", clName,
+					"--tags", "alpha.eksctl.io/description=eksctl delete before active test",
+					"--nodegroup-name", initNG,
+					"--node-labels", "ng-name="+initNG,
+					"--node-type", "t2.medium",
+					"--nodes", "1",
+					"--region", region,
+					"--version", version,
+				)
+			})
+		})
+
+		Context("when deleting the (creating) cluster", func() {
+
+			It("should not return an error", func() {
+
+				eksctlSuccess("delete", "cluster",
+					"--verbose", "4",
+					"--name", clName,
+					"--region", region,
+					"--wait",
+				)
+			})
+
+			It("and should have deleted the EKS cluster and both CloudFormation stacks", func() {
+
+				awsSession := aws.NewSession(region)
+
+				Expect(awsSession).ToNot(HaveExistingCluster(clName, awseks.ClusterStatusActive, version))
+
+				Expect(awsSession).ToNot(HaveExistingStack(fmt.Sprintf("eksctl-%s-cluster", clName)))
+				Expect(awsSession).ToNot(HaveExistingStack(fmt.Sprintf("eksctl-%s-nodegroup-ng-%d", clName, 0)))
+			})
+		})
+
+		Context("when trying to delete the cluster again", func() {
+
+			It("should return an a non-zero exit code", func() {
+
+				eksctlFail("delete", "cluster",
+					"--verbose", "4",
+					"--name", clName,
+					"--region", region,
+				)
+			})
+		})
+	})
+})
diff --git a/pkg/ctl/delete/cluster.go b/pkg/ctl/delete/cluster.go
index 443c9baf516..5af343f728e 100644
--- a/pkg/ctl/delete/cluster.go
+++ b/pkg/ctl/delete/cluster.go
@@ -108,19 +108,18 @@ func doDeleteCluster(cmd *cmdutils.Cmd) error {
 	{
 
 		logger.Info("cleaning up LoadBalancer services")
-		if err := ctl.RefreshClusterConfig(cfg); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		cs, err := ctl.NewStdClientSet(cfg)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		ctx, cleanup := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Minute)
-		defer cleanup()
-		if err := elb.Cleanup(ctx, ctl.Provider.EC2(), ctl.Provider.ELB(), ctl.Provider.ELBV2(), cs, cfg); err != nil {
-			return err
+		// only need to cleanup ELBs if the cluster has already been created.
+		if err := ctl.RefreshClusterConfig(cfg); err == nil {
+			cs, err := ctl.NewStdClientSet(cfg)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			ctx, cleanup := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Minute)
+			defer cleanup()
+			if err := elb.Cleanup(ctx, ctl.Provider.EC2(), ctl.Provider.ELB(), ctl.Provider.ELBV2(), cs, cfg); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
 		}
-
 		tasks, err := stackManager.NewTasksToDeleteClusterWithNodeGroups(cmd.Wait, func(errs chan error, _ string) error {
 			logger.Info("trying to cleanup dangling network interfaces")
 			if err := ctl.GetClusterVPC(cfg); err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/eks/eks.go b/pkg/eks/eks.go
index cff83510e8c..b56817d7a8f 100644
--- a/pkg/eks/eks.go
+++ b/pkg/eks/eks.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ func (c *ClusterProvider) DescribeControlPlane(cl *api.ClusterMeta) (*awseks.Clu
 }
 
 // DescribeControlPlaneMustBeActive describes the cluster control plane and checks if status is active
+// If status isn't active and error will be returned unless strict is set to false.
 func (c *ClusterProvider) DescribeControlPlaneMustBeActive(cl *api.ClusterMeta) (*awseks.Cluster, error) {
 	cluster, err := c.DescribeControlPlane(cl)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ func (c *ClusterProvider) RefreshClusterConfig(spec *api.ClusterConfig) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+
 	logger.Debug("cluster = %#v", cluster)
 
 	data, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(*cluster.CertificateAuthority.Data)