Four areas in the Leeds City Region (LCR) have now been earmarked for the environmentally-friendly new town – Gascoigne Wood, Burn Airfield, Church Fenton and Willow Green – and all four are in the Selby district council area.

Last month the Government announced 14 sites around Britain from which 10 eco-towns will be built, including Rossington near Doncaster.

They left the last slot on the shortlist open, but said it would be a location in the LCR – an area spreading from York to Huddersfield to Barnsley.

Officials commissioned consultants GVA Grimley to draw up a list of possible locations in the area, making a final recommendation in July. But yesterday Selby Council leaders were told that the consultants were only considering sites from their area.

What is more, GVA Grimley ignored "strong guidance" from the Department of Communities and Local Government that no eco-town should be built on greenfield land. All four are either partly or entirely on greenfield sites, and half the Willow Green site is green belt.

The shortlist was not meant to be made public until next month, when it goes before the LCR leaders' panel, and the announcement caught out senior members who had hoped to keep the process under wraps for fear of stoking public anger.

A vociferous campaign by villagers in Kellington and Eggborough to stop the Willow Green proposal was considered responsible for officials in Yorkshire asking to take the decision out of the Government's hands in the first place, and were granted until July to come up with a more appropriate site.

It emerged yesterday that GVA Grimley, instead of scrutinising all possible locations for a eco-town in the city region, had instead first decided which was the most appropriate district to build in and then looked into which sites could be developed.

Selby was chosen because of the affordability of housing, accessibility to other areas – partly through its proximity to both the M1, A1(M) and M62 – and because the area's railway network is "under-utilised".

The district's case was almost certainly helped by repeated public pronouncements from Selby's Labour MP John Grogan, in which he welcomed the possibility of an eco-town in his constituency. But that sentiment is not shared by many who have actively campaigned against an eco-town on their doorstep.

Selby Council leader Mark Crane, a Tory, said: "They looked at the city region and decided Selby was the best place for an eco-town, but their conclusions are very subjective and I for one could come up with many other just-as-suitable locations.

"I will be speaking to people who live in the four affected areas because I strongly believed the people who will have to have this on their doorstep should not be ignored in this process.

"When we were told about this I was shocked. There was a lot of indignation and annoyance among my colleagues.

"We've known for a while now the strength of feeling about this in Eggborough and Kellington, and I'm already hearing from people elsewhere now affected – and they're not happy."

Tory prospective parliamentary candidate for Selby Nigel Adams said: "A lot of people are absolutely furious about this.

"There are already many new homes in the Selby area unsold and the last thing people want is a new town on green fields."

Writing in the Yorkshire Post last month, Mr Grogan said: "Eco-towns will only provide an answer to a part of our urgent housing demand, but they can be a beacon of what is possible.

"In Selby district, despite local controversy concerning the suitability of various sites, an online poll indicated a two to one majority in favour of the concept. The initial reaction (since modified) of the local Conservative council leader was that 'an eco-town would bring benefits not just to Selby, but the region as a whole'. I couldn't have put it better myself." Last night he was unavailable for comment.

A spokesman for GVA Grimley could not comment because of client confidentiality.


Building for the future

Gordon Brown first proposed building five eco-towns when standing for Labour leader last spring.

At the Labour Conference in October he doubled that to 10 and promised one for every region.

Each town will contain between 5,000 and 20,000 new homes.

They will be built to the highest environmental standards, including zero-carbon homes and strong public transport links.

The Government issued "strong guidance" for eco-towns to be built on brownfield land, but some sites are on green spaces.