Land to the west of Harrogate and east of Knaresborough has been highlighted as the most suitable for growth, with a trio of large developments being preferred to a dozen smaller new communities.

Residents will have six weeks to comment on the plans from next Friday, with the views fed back to the council and a planning inspector ahead of a hearing scheduled for October.

The broad proposals include many of the same sites submitted in the original scheme earlier this year – Cardale Park and Penny Pot Lane in Harrogate and Manse Farm in Knaresborough – after planners were asked to do more research into each of the potential areas.

But members of the council's district development committee have expressed strong concerns about just how sustainable any new development would be, and the committee as a whole refused to endorse the contents of a new 300-page report examining a range of potential sites.

Government-imposed guidelines are forcing Harrogate Council to build 390 new houses each year between now and 2020, but councillors expressed reservations at a four-hour meeting on Wednesday night about a lack of infrastructure, particularly a lack of guarantees about new schooling, expanded health care and improved rail links.

But while the committee would not endorse the report, members unanimously agreed to note it.

The report will now be submitted as part of the council's core strategy for new homes in the district over the next 15 years.

Cabinet member for planing and transport Coun Don Mackenzie said while he recognised members' profound reservations about the urban extensions, the council must identify land for 187 new homes each year in Harrogate and a further 55 in Knaresborough.

He said: "If sufficient land continues to become available within the urban areas to provide for the number of homes needed, and we think it will, then we shall put back development of our green spaces, which, once built on, would be lost for ever."

l The documents are available on the council's LDF Core Strategy at the following website www.harrogate.gov.uk/harrogate-3161, in all libraries, and in the council's main offices in Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon. Comments should be submitted to the council before 4.30pm on August 22.