A DECISION on whether to allow a new care home to be built on the last remaining bit of the city's old park and ride site has been delayed because of the coronavirus.

A plan for a 74-bed care home on the remaining part of the old park and ride site in John Comyn Drive off Droitwich Road was submitted to Worcester City Council with a decision expected to be made at a meeting of the council's planning committee today (March 19) which has now been cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis.

Several other city council meetings have been cancelled in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus and protect councillors, staff and the public.

The report by the city council's planning officers, which was due to be discussed by councillors, had recommended the plan was approved.

Worcester City Council formally put the land up for sale in March last year after it was deemed surplus to requirements.

The new care home would have been one of the latest in a long list of potential developments in and around Droitwich Road including a new Lidl supermarket, an expanded 785-plot Muslim cemetery, a new state-of-the-art hockey centre as well as the North Worcester Primary Academy which opened last September.

A controversial plan for a new McDonald's drive-thru was withdrawn at the end of last year.

A plan to build a multi-million-pound state-of-the-art hockey centre on land off Droitwich Road was given the green light in February.

The planning application by Prime and Sanders Senior Living said residents would not own cars and staff would be encouraged to use public transport. Shift patterns would spread traffic from the care home across the day, it said.

A local city councillor ahd raised concerns over the building of a new care home saying it would make an already difficult congestion problem much worse.

Councillor Mel Allcott, who represents Claines, said it was a "refreshing change" to see developments on brownfield rather than "plaguing" green space.

She said the county needed to be "visionary" and work towards a car-free city to combat traffic in the often congested Droitwich Road and the rest of the city.

"Traffic remains a concern, in particular without a park and ride service," she said.

A decision on whether to build a new Lidl supermarket also in Droitwich Road was also hit by a delay because of the cancelled planning meeting.