CONCERNS have today been raised about the number of homes built in Suffolk after it was claimed the figure will double by 2100 if current rates continue.

CONCERNS have today been raised about the number of homes built in Suffolk after it was claimed the figure will double by 2100 if current rates continue.

Suffolk Preservation Society, which is worried by government building plans, warned that the equivalent of “a new county of Suffolk” will be created by 2100.

The society's concerns have been mirrored by Ipswich's housing boss who fears the town will soon “swallow up” neighbouring towns and villages.

Suffolk Preservation Society said the housing stock in Suffolk stood at 310,983 in 2006, but reckon the figure will rise dramatically if building growth continues at current rates.

Society director, Richard Ward, said: “If new homes continue to be built at the current rate there will be 140,800 extra homes in Suffolk by 2050.

“By the turn of the century there will be so many new houses there would practically be a new county of Suffolk, with a housing stock of more than 600,000.”

“While we understand and are sympathetic to the need for more housing, we are alarmed by the predicted rate of growth, which we feel could put the rural nature of Suffolk under threat.”

Steven Wells, responsible for housing at Ipswich Borough Council, has struggled to make provision for government's desire to have an additional 15,900 homes - equal to the size of Bury St Edmunds - already need to be built in the town by 2021.

Cllr Wells said: “It [Ipswich] is a nice county town but this kind of building will completely change the essence of what we are.”

“The problem is not just the loss of the countryside but where the improvement in infrastructure to support all these extra properties is going to come from.”

He added that past 2021 he fears Ipswich growing in all directions out towards, Claydon, Great Blakenham, Witnesham and Kesgrave.