Skipton could lose its character and become housing sprawl if all potential land sites were developed.

That was the fear of Skipton Town Council after it considered Craven District Council's urban potential study.

The document is a "comprehensive and rigorous assessment of the amount of land that could potentially come forward for residential development up to 2016".

However the district council has stressed that identification of a site did not mean it would be accepted for housing development.

"I think we have got to be careful that we do not get too big and lose our character," said Skipton town councillor Audrey Thornton.

One particular area of concern was the identification of car parks in Skipton as potential housing sites.

The document states: "Car parks take up a large amount of prime urban space and encourage excessive car use for a small proportion of the day. This type of potential therefore must be considered.

"It is evident that a significant amount of car parks exist, particularly in Skipton, where opportunities exist to consolidate them to a smaller number of sites."

It adds that any loss of car parking facilities would have to be replaced elsewhere, for example with a decked solution.

But speaking at a town council planning meeting on Monday, Coun Paul Whitaker said any solution was too late.

"Skipton already has a terrible car parking problem. Where are the cars going to go while the sites are being developed?" he asked.

"And the value of the car parks must also be remembered in that the income from them means everybody gets £40 off their rates."

Coun Andy Solloway said the council should be looking at more imaginative solutions that discouraged car use in the town.

He added: "At the moment when you become a pedestrian in Skipton, you become a second class citizen, dicing with cars.

"We should be making towns for people not cars. I would rather see people living in the town centres than hundreds of cars. If you encourage people to live in the centre you get less anti-social behaviour.

"Park and ride could alleviate the problems. We have got infrastructure that is not used much - for instance, we could get people to come in by boat.

"The amount of cars going through Skipton is unsustainable, and it is going to have a knock-on effect on the people wanting to come here," he said.

The council agreed to oppose the identification of car parks as housing sites, but said that if the proposal did go-ahead, alternative parking must be provided before any work started.

Members also made the general point that too many houses in the town would threaten Skipton's character and create housing sprawl.

Committee chairman Coun Betty Campbell said: "We recognise the need for extra housing but we do not want it to swamp the town."