BRADFORD Council planners may "push prices over the market top" if they specify a minimum size for new homes in inner-city areas, a public inquiry has heard.

The warning came from the Home Builders Federation (HBF), which said the city already had a "number of viability issues" during the final day's examination of the Council's emerging Local Plan, which sets out where 42,100 new homes will be constructed across the district by 2030.

In the plan, figures are identified for the "minimum acceptable standards" for the size and quality of housing required, ranging from 51sqm for a one-bedroom or two-person dwelling, to 106sqm for a four-bedroom, six-person house.

Matthew Good, of the HBF, said in certain inner-city areas earmarked for regeneration with new housing, there was a price cap on what buyers were willing to pay.

"Building bigger houses will up the costs, and not necessarily increase the attractiveness of those properties," he said.

"If there are higher space standards, it may push prices over the market top.

"It could mean that people willing to develop those sites will never come forward, and the Council needs to be very careful about that.

"Smaller housing can help people get out of social housing and give them that first step on the property ladder.

"If people are priced out, what happens to these areas?"

The Council has identified overcrowding as one of the reasons for adopting a minimum house size framework, with approximately ten per cent of households across the district having at least one room too few in relation to their household size, according to figures from the 2011 Census, 4,523 more than in 2001.

The worst affected areas are said to be Great Horton, Manningham, and Barkerend.

Thomas Smith, an architect who lives in the Bradford district, said the space standards used by the Council were "fundamentally flawed", as they didn't take into account multi-storey homes.

He suggested the Council should adopt a set of national guidelines due to come out in the Government's Housing Standards Review, which the hearing heard could be published as early as next week.

Mr Good said when they were available, the new national standards would be optional, not mandatory, but Alex Bartle, from Bradford Council's planning department, said the authority may look to modify its plan to reflect the new national figures.

"We still believe there is a justification for having minimum space standards, but it is subject to the viability and feasibility of individual projects," he said.

"Developments can be justified on a site-by-site basis, but viability would have to be justified on cases using less than minimum levels.

"We need to ensure that housing, in the city centre for example, is sustainable."

Earlier this month, Council planners refused permission for the City Exchange office block, on Hall Ings in the city centre, to be turned into 161 studio apartments as they said the size of the rooms, just 16sqm each, left them incapable of "independent habitation."

Government inspector Stephen Pratt, who has been scrutinising the Local Plan during the hearing at Victoria Hall, Saltaire, said he would re-examine the policy once it had been re-drafted to reflect any changes.