A FORMER Mayor of Worcester says he is concerned about "uncontrolled" population growth - admitting to fears about how Worcestershire will cope.

Councillor Alan Amos, who now chairs Worcester City Council's planning committee, says at some point leading politicians will have to address the implications of allowing Britain to boom.

The UK's population is set to soar by around 10 million over the next 25 years, according to official figures - the size of the whole of Sweden.

In south Worcestershire alone an emerging blueprint has earmarked land around Worcester, Malvern and Wychavon for 28,370 homes by 2030 - but more is likely to be needed beyond then.

Only last month Councillor Amos hit out at so-called 'garden grabbing' in Worcester, saying he was concerned about the increasing trend to build on back lawns and pub beer gardens.

He also says leading politicians like MPs and council chiefs need to start the conversation about the long-term outcome of the surging population growth.

"I don't know what the answer is to all this to be honest, but at some point we've got to start talking about this," he said.

"We are now starting to build homes in places which would have been absolutely unthinkable only a few years ago.

"If you look at Worcester one of the best things about it is the green and pleasant environment, once you take that away by building on it you'll lose one of the reasons why people want to come.

"The population is getting bigger everywhere, that is putting more pressure on our schools, hospitals, the houses we've got to build - and 2030 (the point at which the emerging South Worcestershire Development Plan) isn't that far away.

"I don't know what the answer is but we've got to start looking at this and the consequences of uncontrolled population growth."

Estimates from the Officer for National Statistics show the number of people living in Britain is expected to rise from 64.6 million in 2014 to 74.3 million by 2039.

On current trends it will overtake France by 2030 and Germany, becoming the largest country in Europe, by 2047.

Around half of the rise is expected to come as a result of net migration and the impact on birth rates of people arriving into the country.

Britain's estimated growth outstrips others in Europe, with the country's population estimated to increase by 15 per cent in the next 25 years compared to 3 per cent in the EU.

Worcestershire's population was 569,000 in 2012, according to the Office for National Statistics, but on current trends at least 45,000 new properties are expected to be built in the county by 2030 - taking the number of residents anywhere from 600,00-700,000.

Factors like future recessions make any certain figures difficult to predict.