A CONTROVERSIAL bid to let a £1 million Worcester supermarket relax delivery times have been rejected amid furious disagreement.

Worcester City Council's planning committee has voted 7-2 to stop the Co-operative accepting deliveries during school rush hour at its forthcoming shop in Barker Street, Rainbow Hill.

It means the Co-Op, which secured permission over a new outlet on the Goodrest Tavern pub car park in March 2015, cannot take stock between 8.30am-9.15am and 3-4pm.

The store, backed by pub landlord Bill Salmon, has threatened to pull out unless the restrictions were removed and won the backing of two Tory councillors, Alan Amos and Mike Johnson, it its bid.

The duo said the Co-Op would create 20 jobs and argued any extra "risk" from the deliveries of one or two lorries per day would be very small.

But they were voted out during a planning committee meeting, who said the lives of children could potentially be at stake.

Councillor Joy Squires, deputy leader of Worcester's Labour leadership, attended the meeting to urge it to be refused.

"Last Tuesday I happened to be going by St Barnabas school during the morning rush hours and within my site, there were dozens and dozens of children," she said.

"At that time of the day the whole area is absolutely full of schoolchildren, parents, cars parking to drop children off - to be honest this would add to what is already a dangerous situation."

She called the relaxation "a step too far", a view backed up by most of the committee despite Co-Op protests.

Councillor Jo Hodges said: "The safety of children and pedestrians has to come before any other consideration, including financial ones, and including jobs.

"Even 20 jobs is not as important as the life or serious injury to one person - that should be our major consideration."

Councillor Amos urged the committee to "take the emotion out of it", adding: "It's like saying 'don't leave your front door in the morning, otherwise you could be hit by a bus'.

"There are no facts to indicate children are at risk, this is the thin end of the wedge and pure speculation.

"This 'ring of steel' is an absurdity, it's an argument based on ignorance and emotion."

But Councillor Pat Agar said it was "vital to err on the side of caution", saying she felt they had a duty to "separate children from heavy traffic" wherever possible.

Councillor Johnson said the lorries would add "less than 0.1 per cent" to the amount of vehicles on the road and raised doubts about the ban being effective.

Despite a plea from Gillian Whitfield, an agent for the Co-Op, and pub landlord Bill Salmon the vote of 7-2 means the restrictions stay in place.

The pub is giving up some of its parking for the development, in the hope it will boost business for the Goodrest Tavern.

Work on building the supermarket is expected to start imminently.