A Yorkshire Post analysis of dozens of representations made to Government by councils and organisations reveals fears the crude target will prioritise quantity over quality and simply add to the number of flats being built without tackling shortages of family homes.

Ministers are also accused of not doing enough to bring back into use some of the 672,924 empty homes, while there are claims Whitehall's obsession with "zero carbon" new homes will fail to make a serious impact on cutting emissions without more energy-efficiency measures for existing homes.

The concerns over the Government's plans – a key plank of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's efforts to build affordable homes – are revealed amid growing concern about the impact of the credit crunch, with Britain's biggest housebuilder, York-based Persimmon, already postponing the start of work on 30 new sites.

Analysts say building will continue to slow for at least two years. Jim Ward, residential research director for estate agency Savills, said: "The biggest danger is in the short term and frankly our view is that starts and completions will go down next year and the year after."

Last night – as Housing Minister Caroline Flint defended the Government for "raising the bar" on housebuilding and warned builders against stopping new schemes – the Tories and Lib Dems attacked the building target, which has alarmed many council leaders in Yorkshire because of the number of homes for which they are being forced to plan.

Tory housing spokesman Grant Shapps said the Government would not meet the three million homes target and the credit crunch provided more reason why it would not.

Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Lembit Opik said: "To think simply setting a three million target is the solution is wrong. The market will maximise the profit and that doesn't necessarily mean affordable homes."

The Yorkshire Post used the Freedom of Information Act to examine representations made by a host of councils, interest groups and associations in response to a consultation on the Government's Housing Green Paper which outlines the plans. The consultation ended late last year but the responses have only just been released.

Most organisations welcomed the desire to build more homes, but had concerns about parts of the Government's plans – trumpeted by Mr Brown soon after becoming Prime Minister as a way of addressing sky-high house prices before they started to fall – which would require the number of new homes being built to rise from 200,000 a year to 240,000.

The Local Government Association was particularly critical of the binding targets imposed from Whitehall.

"Imposing centrally-decided unachievable targets may deliver new homes, but will not deliver communities," it warns.

"The association and its members are concerned that the Green Paper places too much emphasis on numbers and not enough on place and quality. If the new houses that are to be built are to be places that people wish to live in 30, 40, 50 years time then we need to ensure that the 'place offer' is right."

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England questions whether three million homes "is either achievable or desirable", the Northern Way warns the quality of new builds will not be improved by an "overly narrow focus" on numbers, while Leeds

Jonathan Reed Political Editor

LABOUR'S flagship policy to build three million homes by 2020 risks creating properties people don't want to live in and may be doomed to fail anyway.

A Yorkshire Post analysis of dozens of representations made to Government by councils and organisations reveals fears the crude target will prioritise quantity over quality and simply add to the number of flats being built without tackling shortages of family homes.

Ministers are also accused of not doing enough to bring back into use some of the 672,924 empty homes, while there are claims Whitehall's obsession with "zero carbon" new homes will fail to make a serious impact on cutting emissions without more energy-efficiency measures for existing homes.

The concerns over the Government's plans – a key plank of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's efforts to build affordable homes – are revealed amid growing concern about the impact of the credit crunch, with Britain's biggest housebuilder, York-based Persimmon, already postponing the start of work on 30 new sites.

Analysts say building will continue to slow for at least two years. Jim Ward, residential research director for estate agency Savills, said: "The biggest danger is in the short term and frankly our view is that starts and completions will go down next year and the year after."

Last night – as Housing Minister Caroline Flint defended the Government for "raising the bar" on housebuilding and warned builders against stopping new schemes – the Tories and Lib Dems attacked the building target, which has alarmed many council leaders in Yorkshire because of the number of homes for which they are being forced to plan.

Tory housing spokesman Grant Shapps said the Government would not meet the three million homes target and the credit crunch provided more reason why it would not.

Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Lembit Opik said: "To think simply setting a three million target is the solution is wrong. The market will maximise the profit and that doesn't necessarily mean affordable homes."

The Yorkshire Post used the Freedom of Information Act to examine representations made by a host of councils, interest groups and associations in response to a consultation on the Government's Housing Green Paper which outlines the plans. The consultation ended late last year but the responses have only just been released.

Most organisations welcomed the desire to build more homes, but had concerns about parts of the Government's plans – trumpeted by Mr Brown soon after becoming Prime Minister as a way of addressing sky-high house prices before they started to fall – which would require the number of new homes being built to rise from 200,000 a year to 240,000.

The Local Government Association was particularly critical of the binding targets imposed from Whitehall.

"Imposing centrally-decided unachievable targets may deliver new homes, but will not deliver communities," it warns.

"The association and its members are concerned that the Green Paper places too much emphasis on numbers and not enough on place and quality. If the new houses that are to be built are to be places that people wish to live in 30, 40, 50 years time then we need to ensure that the 'place offer' is right."

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England questions whether three million homes "is either achievable or desirable", the Northern Way warns the quality of new builds will not be improved by an "overly narrow focus" on numbers, while Leeds City Council and Leeds Housing Partnership said the focus on numbers risked ignoring the need for bigger family homes.

And Yorkshire and Humber Housing Forum says pressure on councils to meet quotas could "over-ride their broader objective of creating sustainable communities".

The Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) also warns against a policy "entirely driven by numbers", and is among those organisations which question how effective the Government's plans will be in cutting carbon emissions.

"While RICS fully supports the Government's drive to improve the environmental performance of new-build homes these account for only about one per cent of housing stock each year," it says.

"We therefore feel very strongly that the impact of these measures will be minimal if the far bigger problem of emissions emanating from existing stock is not adequately tackled and we're disappointed to see no new measures have been announced in the Green Paper to tackle refurbishment and retrofit of existing homes which would be far more cost effective."

Submissions include several pleas for VAT on repairs to existing homes to be cut from 17.5 per cent, warning the level is a disincentive to bringing empty homes back into use, with public spending watchdog the Audit Commission warning the Green Paper pays "insufficient attention" to use of existing homes.

But Ms Flint, MP for Don Valley, said she made no apology for "raising the bar" on ambitions and said there was a long-term need for new homes despite the current economic turmoil.

"For a generation the supply of housing has not kept up with the rising demand, meaning first-time buyers struggle to get onto the housing ladder," she said.

Continuing demand for homes from young families and first- time buyers, coupled with a fundamentally strong and stable economy, meant the conditions were right for a healthy house-building industry in the longer term.

It was in house-builders' interests to base their decisions on longer term trends.