YORK'S Local Plan has taken a step forward after a shock vote saw a Tory councillor go against his party group leader and support the Labour group's proposals.

The city council's Local Plan Working Group last night met to see new housing proposals from officers, who had been asked to look again at the projections of York's housing need after a motion put forward by the Liberal Democrats was passed at full council.

The meeting heard from planning expert Chris Tunnell, of consultants Arup, and eventually voted to go ahead with a new housing target of 926 homes a year, or 14,816 over the 16-year plan - 60 houses a year fewer than the plan rejected in October.

But the options Mr Tunnell set out were criticised by some opposition members.

Lib Dem Nigel Ayre said: "My great concern is that we have not taken residents with us. The number of objections and people against this show clearly that they do not believe in what we have brought forward."

Both he and Conservative Chris Steward said October's council motion asked for much more drastic revisions and reworkings of figures, but a call by Cllr Steward and Lib Dem Ann Reid to ask for work on more alternatives failed when Conservative Joe Watt criticised other members for using the Local Plan as an electioneering tool, and voted against them.

He said: "What has happened tonight is too many councillors have started their election campaign, and want to be able to say they are the only ones that have saved the greenbelt."

Earlier, Mr Tunnell had said he could look again at a number of aspects of the housing demand projections, but the council's interim planning director Sarah Tanburn had warned more delays in the Local Plan process would only put land in danger from speculative developers.

After the meeting the committee chairman Cllr Dave Merrett said that the new lower figures combined with progress on some brownfield sites might mean some mooted development sites could be spared.