A DARING bid to water down a 2,150-home 'super village' in west Worcester can today be revealed - amid serious concern it will worsen congestion, damage businesses and force school closures.

Proposals for a controversial new settlement next to Dines Green are ploughing ahead in a radical overhaul which will change the face of St John's for a generation.

But members of Worcester City Council's planning committee say key aspects of the super village may need to be re-thought before it goes further.

The massive project includes a shopping centre, primary school, 10 huge traveller pitches, sports facilities, a community hall, offices, takeaways and more.

But questions are being asked about the viability of St John's retail centre if the new vision becomes reality.

Worried councillors also say there are three existing primary schools nearby which face a battle for funding and are regularly 'under-subscribed', with a new addition likely to only make matters worse.

The super village, known officially as the 'west Worcester urban extension', has already had a glut of developers draw up planning applications for separate parcels of the site, off the A44 Bromyard Road.

The applications will technically be decided by Malvern Hills District Council as it sits yards over the boundary, but Worcester City Council is being consulted on each one.

One outline planning application for 150 homes, covering seven per cent of the site, has recently been submitted by Spenhill Developments Ltd.

Councillor Alan Amos said: "If we do this on a piece-meal basis it's going to be a mishmash, it will be a total disaster.

"I want reassurances about how we're going to deal with congestion, traffic, parking - if we do a bit here, a bit there I've got real concerns."

Planning committee chairman Councillor Chris Mitchell, who reiterated his call for a boundary review, said: "Your point is taken - we don't want to build little bits here and there and then find we've got no infrastructure."

St John's Councillor Richard Udall called for a proper bus service in the area, and said he had serious school fears.

"Schools like Dines Green, St Clement and Oldbury Park primaries are underutilised and undersubscribed - a fourth school in the area will undermine, under-fund and destroy our existing ones," he said.

Councillor Chris Cawthorne, who also represents St John's, said: "A number of things about this concern me - the traffic, the proposal to build a school, the retail.

"Why build another school when we've got half-empty ones in St John's - and what about the impact on St John's shopping area?"

Stephen Hawley, a highways officer, told them the Spenhill plan alone would result in £1 million being handed over to improve infrastructure if it gets the nod.

The city council is not formally objecting to the 150 homes bid, but is asking planning chiefs in Malvern to be consulted on all future planning application for the site.

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'WE NEED MORE INVESTMENT INTO ST JOHN'S'

PEOPLE in St John's say the so-called 'village in the city' needs more investment if it is going to thrive.

Ian Narraway, who runs I J Narraway Butchers, said: "I do feel like new shopping units would damage St John's a little bit.

"It's like the impact retail parks have on cities, it rips the heart out of them.

"Our business was great in December, January and February you find yourself hanging on by a straw but in March, it starts to take off again.

"But this area needs more investment, there's not a lot of parking in St John's and that is a main reason people tend to visit any shopping area."

Kate Brunt, the executive principal of St Clement C of E Primary School, said: "At the moment we've got 210 pupil places and 210 pupils on the roll, so there isn't any pupil vacancies.

"But that hasn't always been the case, the numbers can change because of the university.

"I'm not sure what impact it could have, it depends how many building plots there are."

Forty per cent of the 150 units Spenhill Developments is looking to build on the site will be affordable homes.

Hallam Land Management, Bloor Homes and the University of Worcester are also seeking to build properties on different sections of the site.

It is likely to take a decade to fully build, and forms part of the 28,370-home South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP).