THE Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) has been inundated with replies following an appeal for land on which to build affordable housing.

More than 100 suggestions for sites within the National Park have been received over the last five weeks and members of the Authority’s Housing Working Group are now looking through them.

Its Chairman, Yvonne Peacock, said: “I'm really pleased with the response.

“We didn't know at the start how much interest there was going to be, particularly in the face of the falling housing market and the credit crisis. However we should now be able to identify at least some suitable sites for new affordable and local market housing.

“Of course, not all the sites are going to be suitable but having a larger range of options to choose from should mean that the Authority can select the best.

“I would like to thank landowners, their agents and parish councils for taking the trouble to put these sites forward for us to look at. An advantage of this is that we know they are likely to be available for development if they are eventually allocated.”

The Housing Working Group will consider the planning merits and constraints associated with each site and decide which are the most suitable so that they can be shortlisted for consultation.

If there are key settlements with a shortage of availability sites to choose from, then the Authority may decide to hold a further targeted call for sites in that area.

In the meantime, details of the process and plans of all the sites that have been suggested have been published on the Authority’s website.

and printed copies will be made available at its Bainbridge and Grassington offices. Parish councils and other consultees will be notified of the list and will be able to make comments if they wish.

Eventually the shortlisted sites will be published in a draft Housing Development Plan – probably later this year – alongside revised housing policies. Public consultation on the draft plan will then take place, hopefully later this year.