THOUSANDS of new jobs to be created at Amesbury and Porton Down could put a massive strain on the district's housing supply, business leaders were warned last week.

With Solstice Park, in Amesbury, likely to provide up to 6,000 jobs and the expanding science park at Porton Down hundreds more, concerns are being raised over where all the new workers - especially those relocating to south Wiltshire - will live.

Nearly 100 business people were at Salisbury's Medieval Hall last week for the autumn forum of south Wiltshire economic partnership, the organisation that works to improve the economic prosperity of the area.

One of the speakers was chartered surveyor Peter Barefoot, a partner in commercial property consultants Alder King, which looks after the marketing of £250m Solstice Park, the 160-acre business park alongside the A303 near Amesbury. Mr Barefoot said the development, the infrastructure for which was well under way, could play a very important role in the success of the region.

There would be industrial, distribution and office uses, leisure, hotel and restaurant services, and a filling station.

Solstice Park, he said, was one of few sites south of Birmingham with 60 acres of employment land available on one site.

"It is 100 minutes from Westminster, and its easily accessible location and high visibility from the A303 will be the key to its success," he said.

"But inward investment is highly competitive and everyone is fighting to attract major relocations, so how can we compete?"

He said the report to the chancellor and deputy prime minister by Sir Michael Lyons, director of the Institute of Local Government Studies at the University of Birmingham, examined the case for relocating up to 20,000 civil service jobs from London.

"Sir Michael said towns 'have to demonstrate that they have more than skilled labour, good roads and nice buildings - they have to demonstrate some distinctiveness'," said Mr Barefoot.

Salisbury's unique selling point was the Research Triangle of Dstl, the Health Protection Agency and QinetiQ at Porton Down and Boscombe Down - "already a world-class forum for science and technology".

"A number of companies have already moved to south Wiltshire to work with them," said Mr Barefoot.

"We have a tremendous opportunity to build on this and attract more public and private-sector companies to the area."

These might take the form of government departments or major corporations and, he said, each would boost the economy because "they all want what we are supplying".

Mr Barefoot said that the met office's relocation to Exeter had made a tremendous difference to the city.

"The dynamics are fantastic," he added.

The five government departments earmarked for relocation by 2010 were the chancellor's department (5,000 jobs), the department for work and pensions (4,000 jobs), the ministry of mefence (3,900 jobs), the home office (2,200 jobs) and the department of health (1,100).

He was asked how many people were likely to work at Solstice Park and he estimated between 4,000 and 6,000.

Salisbury district councillor John Noeken, portfolio holder for planning and economic development, said 1,200 new homes were to be built in Amesbury, 550 in the first phase.

But, he said: "We shall not have sufficient housing to house our own people up to 2016.

"Nor will there be enough affordable housing - and that is crucial to sustaining rural communities."