CAMPAIGNERS have attacked Kirklees planners for failing to prevent urban sprawl.
The council was said to be the worst offender among metropolitan authorities.
It was named as a culprit by the Council for the Protection of Rural England.
Kirklees is named in a report attacking councils for allowing new housing schemes which take up too much land.
They are also accused of failing to use brownfield sites, where there has been development in the past.
Campaigners said councils were ignoring official guidance of between 30 and 50 homes per hectare.
In Kirklees the figure is 17 and 19 in Calderdale.
Julie Stainton, the CPRE's planning campaigner, said: "These councils appear to be ignoring official Government planning policy and targets.
"The policy calls for an end to wastefully low densities and for more recycling of land."
Campaigners say that following Government policies would reduce the rate at which countryside disappears under bricks and mortar.
Kirklees said the figures were out of date, as they referred to the period from 1999 to 2002.
In 2003/2004 less than 10% of new housing was built on greenfield land in Kirklees, said town hall officials.
A council spokeswoman said: "We have embraced Government policy to concentrate development on previously used land.
"This, in addition to higher-density development, is a further contribution towards restricting urban sprawl," she added.
