Cabinet member for planning and transport Coun Don Mackenzie said the council's first priority is to look to brownfield sites to provide land for housing, and he said there should be enough sites in brownfield, or previously developed locations, to satisfy the building requirements.

Coun Mackenzie said many of those sites will be so-called 'windfall sites' which, under Government regulations, cannot be used in identifying potential sites in the Local Development Framework (LDF).

Coun Mackenzie said: "I recognise that many residents in Harrogate and Knaresborough are worried that, by identifying these potential sites in the countryside, it means that they will be built on. That is not the case.

"We are determined to maintain a tight control on house building numbers and will always choose a brownfield site ahead or one in a greenfield location.

"The council's main weapon against overprovision of housing is maintaining a five-year supply of housing on brownfield sites. Currently there is enough brownfield land to fulfil six years' requirements."

The new Harrogate District LDF will gradually replace the Harrogate District Local Plan and guide development and conservation in the District up to 2023.

Instead of having just one major Local Plan for the district, the council – like all other local authorities – is now required to prepare a number of smaller plans at different times over shorter time periods.

One major element of the LDF includes the provision of land for housing, which requires the Harrogate district to provide a net of 390 homes a year.

Coun Mackenzie added: "This relatively low figure was agreed after extensive lobbying by Harrogate planners against initial proposals by the Government to build many more.

"Providing land for homes is often a controversial subject. However, this number is very low in comparison with the district's housing growth up to 2003. For example, in 2000/01 a total of 930 homes were built in the district."

He said residents' concerns about sustainability and infrastructure are understandable and he said all district councils – as planning authorities – have to be the ones to take the lead in integrating housing with other essential services, like transport, education and health.

Coun Mackenzie said the planning inspector recognised those concerns and asked the council to draw together the broad outlines of how these services will be brought forward.

He said: "The council has provided this broad outline, which sees a mix of public and private funding contributing to this infrastructure. Despite what some objectors claim, the inspector did not reject the council's proposals. She did, however, ask the council to "underpin" the Core Strategy.