WHY do we need all these new homes? That's the question the public may be asking after official figures showed only a small growth in Dorset's population.
Around 1,400 more people were living in the county in mid-2005 than in mid-2004, latest government figures show - with the population for Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch barely changing at all.
Yet regional housebuilding plans require between 680-780 new homes a year in Bournemouth until 2026, 450-500 for Poole, 165-180 for Christchurch, 270 for East Dorset, 255 for North Dorset and 105 for Purbeck.
Although 3,000 more people moved into Dorset than moved out of it in 2004-05, that increase was offset because more people are dying in the county than are being born.
Planners say the extra housing is needed largely because there is already a backlog of local people who cannot afford to buy.
Cllr Ron Parker, cabinet member for the economy at the Borough of Poole, accepted there was a need for more house-building.
But he was concerned about new houses being snapped up by people from out of the area rather than by the local households who needed them.
He said: "We need the homes but they need to be affordable.
"There's a significant unsatisfied demand for housing where local residents cannot afford to get on the housing ladder."
The figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the population in Bournemouth changed hardly at all between mid-2004 and mid-2005. Net inward migration of 400 was cancelled out by the declining birth rate.
In Poole, the net migration was also practically cancelled out by natural changes in population.
Most of the district councils in Dorset also saw only small rises in total population, although East Dorset, recorded a population fall of around 200.
Cllr Ken Mantock, chairman of Bournemouth Borough Council's planning board, said: "The reality of the situation is, regardless of the population figures for Bournemouth, there's this huge acknowledged backlog of affordable housing that's an absolute imperative."
He said the town needed to find 700 units of affordable housing a year to deal with the backlog.
Cllr Mantock continued: "The biggest issue other than affordable housing is the fact that people are living separately, divorcing, not marrying and that's where the figures come from."
He said the desirability of the area meant people were also buying properties as second homes.
