Plans to build 5,420 houses a year in Essex have sparked concerns that greenfield land will be built on.

The target, announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, means over the next 16 years 81,300 homes have to be built in the county.

Mr Prescott wants half the homes built on former industrial areas. But there are worries an insufficient amount of brownfield sites will lead to development on greenfield sites.

North Essex MP Bernard Jenkin said the programme would lead to "the wrong houses being built in the wrong places".

He added: "How will these houses be built without encroaching on more green fields?"

Colchester MP Bob Russell also criticised the plans, which he fears will lead to homes being built on sportsfields and landscaped grounds.

Under the proposals, an extra 1,226 houses a year will have to be built in Essex, on top of the 4,194 already expected.

But Mike Burchell, head of planning at Essex County Council, cautiously welcomed the proposals, insisting: "We will be assessing the proposals carefully over the next few months so Essex's views can be strongly put during public consultation."

Colchester Labour leader Tim Young said as long as the issue was handled sensitively and building was mainly on brownfield sites, the town should take its fair share.

Essex County Council Conservative group leader Lord Hanningfield said: "Wherever they are built, they will cause massive strain on local services and mean funding will have to be taken from existing services to build new schools and roads."

He cited building on the army ground betweem Mersea Road and Abbey Field and the Severalls Hospital central sports field as particularly worrying prospects.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.