The people of York are to be asked to help identify surrounding green belt land that can be turned over to development - while doing least harm to the city itself.

Planning bosses say that despite the brake being put on home building elsewhere in the North Yorkshire area from 2006, there simply isn't enough land available in York to meet the growing demand for new homes and offices.

In a massive consultation process already under way and set to peak at the end of the year, they will be asking local people to suggest areas of land that could be set aside on a "phased" basis for development.

In an interview published in the Evening Press today Coun Dave Merrett, chairman of the city's planning and transport committee, says that with land already allocated for development fast running out, the council was left with little choice but to turn to the green belt.

There were just two small areas of land within the city's draft local plan that remained undeveloped, he said.

"That does not go anywhere against the likely development needs.

"There are certain parts of the green belt which are inviolable. The wedges into the city centre which are the green lungs. River corridors, important sites like Askham Bog.

"But we need to see if we can identify areas that are not crucial to the function of the green belt."

York still has no formally-adopted local plan - the "blueprint" for the city's development - but merely a draft deposit plan, which carries less weight in terms of planning control. There is also no formal green belt because its inner boundary is set by the local plan

A public inquiry which could have led to the adoption of the plan was adjourned in February so planners could decide on a firm inner boundary. It is the plan itself and the green belt boundary that the council will be consulting on.

Parish councils, neighbourhood forums and other community groups have already been consulted and have until April 10 to reply.

A formal public consultation with the people of York is then expected in November or December.

County planners working on the county joint structure plan predicted recently that home building across North Yorkshire could fall from 3,000 new homes a year to more like 2,000 a year after 2006 as the Government called on big cities such as Leeds and Sheffield to soak up more housing.

But they stressed that within North Yorkshire, new homes were likely to be concentrated in urban centres such as York and Harrogate.

Ian Hessay, deputy managing director of Persimmon Homes Yorkshire, said he hoped the number of new homes being built in the city would go up.

There was no point building homes in Leeds and Sheffield if people didn't want to live there, he said.

"York has been successful in terms of creating good quality employment. Housing must follow on from job creation, not the other way around."

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