TWENTY-nine thousand homes could be built in the region every year for the next 20 years despite concerns it will not meet the housing need.

Influential organisations say the figure should be 36,000 and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott could still impose an even higher figure.

When the South East England Regional Assembly (Seera) met on Wednesday, July 13, Jim Brathwaite, chairman of the regional development agency, Seeda, was in no doubt that the 28,900 figure was low. It would hit the regional economy, he said.

"We are concerned about maintaining economic success across the region both in areas already doing well and those lagging behind," he said.

"The region needs a higher level of new house building than proposed if it is to remain successful."

Seera's own officers have tried to persuade members to go for a higher figure. But the members, who are councillors from all over the region, plus people from business, organisations and charities, decided to back the figure.

Buckinghamshire County Council leader David Shakespeare, an assembly member, said the numbers would enable communities to expand naturally and provide some spare capacity. He did not want homes shoehorned into the South East.

He agreed there was no guarantee that the Deputy Prime Minister would take any notice even though he had set up the assembly.

"If he ignores the advice, there will be many members of Seera who will be contemplating whether it is worth staying on," he said.

The CBI's Douglas Horner said housing underpinned the economy and Seera's own research showed 28,900 houses a year would not meet the need.

Sharon Hedges, of Social Housing, who tried to get a figure of 32,000 a year accepted, said she doubted whether the Government would accept the lower figure.

Kent County Council leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart said everyone wanted to improve people's quality of life via a successful economy and the assembly would work towards that. But he said the region only needed 18,000 homes a year to cater for its own population growth, so 28,900 was 50 per cent up on that.

"If you want 36,000, it would have enormous implications," he said.