A GOVERNMENT commissioned report recommending an increase in house-building could have an impact on the future of green field sites around Ilkley, says a councillor.

The newly-released final report of the Barker Review of Housing Supply recommends the building of tens of thousands of new homes across the country each year, and changes to the planning system, in a bid to increase housing supply and tackle 'unaffordable' house prices.

But Bradford Council environment chief, and Ilkley ward and parish councillor, Anne Hawkesworth, fears the recommendations in the report could undo attempts across the Bradford District to get previously-occupied sites developed ahead of green spaces. She said: "This report puts at risk the work done in Bradford to force developers to tackle the more difficult brownfield sites and buildings and will put more pressure on green field sites because it will sanction an increase in the supply of sites allowing developers to 'cherry pick' the easier sites."

"The report suggests local authorities should add between 20 and 40 per cent to the identified land supply for housing to deal with what is referred to as 'local housing market disequilibrium'. In Bradford this would add provision for between 280 to 560 extra homes per year. The report also suggests making changes to the green belt where this would avoid perverse environmental impacts elsewhere."

The report, by Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Kate Barker, suggests the need to increase 'social housing' by 17,000 homes nationwide each year, to address the housing demand. And it suggests that only building 70,000 to 120,000 private sector homes per annum will control the house price trend.

The review was set up in April last year by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Deputy Prime Minister.

It also cites that at a local level, the allocation of land for housing should become more responsive to demand for housing, and says planning authorities should allocate buffers of additional land, which would be released for development by indicators of unexpectedly high demand.

But Coun Hawkesworth says economists' views are divided as to the impact of housing supply on the price of houses.

She says the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) has argued that the results of the 2001 census show a surplus of homes over households, and that that affordability can be tackled in a much more selective way than through a blanket increase in the supply of land.

"As is often the case with these announcements, examining the detail of how the increase in the number of homes built compounds the issue," said Coun Hawkesworth.

There are fears that Government measures such as local development orders will reduce the involvement of elected councillors in the detail of approving housing developments. And Coun Hawkesworth said that changes to the role of planning obligations could mean that planning gain cash, often required of a developer in place of open space or other public requirements, could be collected directly by the Government, rather than going to the local authority.

"This looks like another centralisation of control over the external costs of development."