WHEREVER in rural Selby the proposed 15,000 house eco-town is built the residents might ask themselves the same question: is the reduced carbon footprint of my home of the future really helping the environment when I have to drive miles to work because there are no jobs nearby?

The next question will be what to do with the rest of the evening. The choice is likely to be wider if the settlement is built at Willow Green, near Kellington, because the post office doubles as a fish and chip shop on certain days.

On the other hand, building on the existing RAF airstrip at Church Fenton would allow the residents to decide between three pubs. It is only if Burn Airfield or Gascoigne Wood is selected that there is the prospect of long evenings in front of the clockwork radio or wind powered TV.

The main point of interest in Burn at the moment is Burn Gliding Club, which would not be attracting many visitors without the airfield. Over at Gascoigne Wood, since the colliery site closed there is nothing to see for miles around but empty countryside. Of course, you could pile the family back in the car and search for a restaurant – but the point of your being there is to cut traffic pollution and walk more to combat obesity.

Ask anyone in Kellington, Church Fenton or Burn village what they think of the idea and you will get the same response: there are no jobs here, no industry and no infrastructure. Oh, and putting the word eco in front of the word town does not make it any more rustic.

Village life is not just something cherished by residents; it is the reason why many of them moved there in the first place.

Siobhan Hymes, 36, of Plough Garth, Kellington, and friend Emma Parrott, 28, of Eastfield Lane, both wanted somewhere where their children could play.

Mrs Hymes said: "We do not want all these houses when there's no jobs around here. We want to be in a village, not a town, and that's why we chose to live here."

Although much of Willow Green has recently been ploughed it is normally an area of stubble rich in wildlife and wild flowers, commanding an attractive view of the parish church. Rosalyn Clayton, 52, of Pickhaven Garth, has lived in the village for 21 years and regularly walks her two dogs there. She thought the area was attractive in its own right and said: "If I had wanted to live in a town I would have moved to one."

Burn Airfield might seem more appealing in terms of space, with a runway which some have compared – with only small exaggeration – to the M62. But the idea is unlikely to go down well with the 600 residents of Burn who live on the other side of the trees.

Roger Howard, of Park Lane, said the airfield might seem a self-contained site. "But it's right on top of the village." Traffic was already thundering through all night from the M62 and one motorcyclist had been clocked doing 120mph.

In Church Fenton the village sign depicts a horse between two shafts of a cart heaving with hay. Given that the skies are buzzing with air traffic from the base and the village is bursting with new homes, could this be a chance to turn the eco-clock back?

Lifelong villager Janet Rowe, 61, reckons not. "As far as the village goes there has been enough building going on. I know we have got to have progress and help the environment but the school's not big enough for one thing and we only have a small post office and a few pubs." If the Government is as interested in popularity as it probably should be for the next General Election the logical choice would seem to be Gascoigne Wood, where residents think the settlement would probably be far enough away from any village to cause much objection.

But one resident said: "This property has been in my family for more than 100 years and the road outside was just a quiet country lane until the coalfield came along and disrupted everything. They might call this new thing progress as well. But putting 'eco' in front of something is always an easy sell."