IF you've started your Christmas shopping and thought there were a lot of people about, prepare for some bad news. According to government statistics, there are going to be an awful lot more around before very long.

New data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the United Kingdom could swell to 71 million over the next 25 years.

If we continue at this rate, the population will increase from an estimated 60.6 million in 2006, to 65 million in 2016, passing 70 million in 2028, to reach 71 million by 2031.

To put it in perspective, this is the most rapid rate of growth since the post-war baby boom and far higher than previous government projections.

The long-term assumptions are based on future fertility rates, life expectancy and migration. All of these changes act in the same direction, which is toward a higher future population.

"We just canna take anymore Captain," as Scotty from Star Trek might have said.

A population rise of this size will mean many more bodies queuing at your supermarket, crowding on to your bus or train or competing for scarce parking spaces.

Crucially, it also means more people demanding homes and more countryside disappearing to meet that demand.

Angela Pooley, of East Dorset Friends of The Earth, explains the environmental problems we may face in the future: "In this area where the population is higher than average, Bournemouth already has the highest population levels per hectare in Dorset.

"We haven't got the infrastructure there to support it, so any increase in the UK population is going to make that worse.

"This obviously means we'll only have finite space for housing, otherwise we'll have to start building on greenfield sites. So we should be planning for that now before we increase the density of housing.

"The roads are heavily congested, so we need to look ahead and devise an affordable public transport system that people want to use whether they're car drivers or not," she said.

The vice-chairman of Bournemouth council's planning board, Cllr Ron Whittaker, said: "It's quite frightening and people are horrified. We are only a small island and the infrastructure just can't cope.

"There's no money to support local people on the South coast. The pressure is on the medical services, hospitals and schools.

"We suffer from not having the land availability and we're building these small little warrens with no quality in build standards.

"This problem will go on and on. There is still time to do something but the government is failing and the future looks bleak."