ONLY 66 new private sector houses were built in the Selby area last year, it was revealed today.

The figure, the lowest on record, was described by council planners as "staggering" and further evidence of a looming housing crisis.

The previous all-time low was four years ago, when 265 new homes were built.

This increased in 2001 to 318, but then plummeted last year to 66 - about 700 houses short of meeting local demand.

The record slowdown in house building has also had a dramatic impact on Selby house prices.

Some town centre terraced houses, with no gardens, are fetching about £70,000 - an increase of £30,000 in the last 18 months - preventing local people from getting a foot on the housing ladder.

Council chiefs said today that although applications from housebuilders were in the pipeline, they would not be enough to stave off an acute shortage of new homes over the next four years.

Selby District Council's forward planning officer Terry Heselton said: "The latest figure of 66 is staggering.

"That's why there is an urgent need to release housing land that has been tied up for almost four years, waiting for the outcome of the local plan public inquiry."

He said it was now impossible to hit Selby area's target of 3,000 new homes between now and 2006 because the construction industry did not have the capacity to build 800 houses a year.

The chairman of the council's social board, Melanie Davis, said that local people were being forced to move away because of the shortage of housing and the massive hike in house prices.

There were also fears today that the housing shortage could worsen due to the Government's insistence on using previously-developed "brownfield" sites.

The Government Office, in Leeds, has written to Selby Council, saying the amount of greenfield sites allocated for housing is too great.

Mr Heselton said: "This gives us a problem because there aren't many brownfield sites in a rural area like Selby.

"We're hoping to see a big increase in house building next year, but it depends on whether the Government Office intervenes on the greenfield issue."

Updated: 16:10 Friday, January 24, 2003