Calls by the Telegraph & Argus to double the amount of cash councils are given for every house built on brownfield land will be considered by the Government after an MP’s lobbying.

Shipley MP Philip Davies sent Housing Minister Grant Shapps a copy of an editorial comment in the T&A calling for better incentives for using brownfield sites rather than greenfield sites for new house building.

The T&A’s ongoing Battle for the Green Belt campaign has highlighted the threat to greenfield sites for many years.

Under Government plans, councils in England will be offered extra money for every newly-built home to ease housing shortages. The New Home Bonus scheme would match the council tax raised on each new house for six years.

But the T&A suggested doubling the cash for houses on brownfield sites to protect the country’s green fields.

Mr Davies said: “Why would we want to pay developers to build on greenfield sites. We do not want a financial incentive for that but for incentives to regenerate places that need regeneration. That is more sensible.

“We obviously have to find the right balance between building enough homes to allow younger people to find a house and make sure they are not unaffordable but they have to be in the right places.

“It strikes me that rewarding developments in the places we want new houses is the right thing to do and it also protects places like Micklethwaite and Menston against houses they do not want.”

The call to reward brownfield use comes as the controversy to build more than 750 homes on sites next to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in Sty Lane, Micklethwaite, Bingley, and at Derry Hill and Bingley Road in Menston.

Greenhill Action Group has been formed to lead the protest in Micklethwaite while Menston Action Group is opposing the Menston proposals.

Mr Shapps said: “We have undertaken to maintain the Green Belt. It is now up to the individual local planning authority, in co-operation with other local authorities as appropriate to assess local housing need and ensure that the right policies for each community are adopted in the local plan.

“I welcome the comments about the use of brownfield sites for new homes. The comments will be considered alongside other responses to the consultation which will be published shortly.”