CRAVEN needs to increase its house building target by more than 50 per cent to 256 homes per year.

Councillors were told the area faced a steady decline in its working population and a more than 50 per cent increase in the number of people of retirement age between now and 2032.

And unless it took steps to provide housing for workers, it ran the risk of losing employers, or increasing the number of people coming in from outside and clogging up the area's roads.

But faced with increasing the housing target from 160 in the emerging Craven Local Plan, which has been several years in the planning, councillors asked for more time to absorb the facts and figures.

Spatial planning committee chairman, Cllr Patrick Mulligan (Cons, Aire Valley with Lothersdale), acknowledged there was a lot to take in, but added there was an urgency to move the plan on for the sake of residents.

Cllr Mulligan said he understood residents' frustration over delays in the completion of the plan, but said it must be right.

"We have rampant numbers of planning applications coming through and it is causing a lot of ructions in our communities," he added.

Cllr Alan Sutcliffe (Cons, Gargrave and Malhamdale), vice-chairman of the council's planning committee, also called for direction, adding applications for hundreds more houses were due before the committee shortly.

Cllr Philip Barrett (Ind, Glusburn) said: "An increase of 50 per cent is a big hike and I feel I need to have a better understanding before I can support it."

The council's spatial planning sub committee will now meet again later this month before making its recommendation to full council.

Last week's meeting heard from two expert consultants that the correct housing figure needed to be calculated so the Local Plan would get Government approval and not be rejected, putting it back potentially for several more months.

They said the annual figure of 290 for the whole of Craven, with 27 in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, was considered safe, with 380 as a top figure.

Homes of all varieties were needed, but especially start-up homes and affordable homes.

The increase would be restricted to main towns and not villages, with Skipton getting the largest proportion of 142 a year.

Between now and 2032, Craven's working population is predicted to decrease by 14 per cent, and its school age children by two per cent, but its over 65s are set to increase by 57 per cent.