A political row has broken out over a council blueprint looking at where development might take place in the decades to come.

Bath and North East Somerset Council met last night to discuss a document outlining ideas on future housing and industrial development in the district.

But opposition Liberal Democrats refused to sign up to the Core Strategy Spatial Options report.

Ruling Conservatives on the council have based their ideas on Government projections of housing needs agreed in 2006.

Then, the authority agreed that 15,500 new homes would have to be built before the year 2026 because of the region's growing population.

The Government has since revised this figure upwards to 21,300, although it is now reviewing its own regional document all over again.

The Conservative cabinet on B&NES says the council document addresses the need to increase the supply of affordable housing and employment land in the area, as well as seeking views on renewable energy and sustainable development.

They say they have stuck to a policy of using brownfield sites before looking at greenfield zones, although the report does signal potential agreement to the use of land near Newton St Loe for 2,000 new homes.

Cabinet member for planning Councillor Charles Gerrish (Con, Keynsham North), said they had no choice but to include proposals for development of a mini-new town to the west of the city.

"Conservatives have campaigned hard against the centrally-imposed Government housebuilding targets, but the Government has made clear that the council has no choice but to include so-called urban extensions at south east Bristol and the edge of Bath.

"However, we have ensured a strong brownfield-first and infrastructure upfront commitment to protect these areas, and if the Government's population and economic growth figures don't materialise, then Conservatives believe the council will need to go back and revise these proposals downwards.

"What's important now is that residents give their views of these proposals, as it's feedback from local residents which will allow the council to ensure future development occurs in the right places."

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Paul Crossley (Lib Dem, Southdown) said the Tories had rushed out the document without putting enough resources into the work.

"Whilst points in the recommendation before us were in line with our policies on housing and land-use, we did not feel that the spatial options paper was ready for publication.

"The Conservative administration of the council has not allocated enough resources to the planning department to properly prepare the proposals – for example, we have been told that insufficient funds were available to carry out infrastructure modelling."

Mr Gerrish said he was baffled by the Liberal Democrats' decision to abstain on the vote which agreed the document.

And he added: "The Lib Dem claim that this consultation has not been properly resourced is complete nonsense. The Lib Dems voted against funding for the consultation in this year's council budget and did not include any money for it in their own budget proposals, so left to them residents would have no say at all on the housing plans."

Details of the document are on the council website www.bathnes.gov.uk and it will be placed in council buildings.