CALLS are being made to ease congestion around Worcester's tip - amid fears Perdiswell will not cope if it gets a new swimming pool and a football stadium.

Worcester MP Robin Walker says resolving traffic around Bilford Road is becoming more and more acute as the chances of extra development on the playing fields increase.

Your Worcester News can reveal how Mr Walker has been doing intense door knocking around Perdiswell recently to get views from residents - and many of them cite the household rubbish centre for growing problems.

The MP now wants Worcestershire County Council to see if the roads network can be altered to ease the weekend queues before further developments get the nod.

"A lot of people say the real problem is not the football club or the swimming pool, it's the tip," he said.

"Many of them said on Saturdays there are enormous queues - I was getting lots of concern about that, while people were both for and against the football club.

"You're inevitably going to get congestion around tips on weekends but I think it's something the county council ought to look at.

"Whether something can be done I don't know but people were saying it's an issue."

Worcester City FC's Supporters Trust has submitted a planning application to build a 4,130 capacity stadium next to the existing leisure centre.

It is expected to be voted on by the planning committee before the end of the year, but residents have already got around 1,000 people to sign a petition against it.

The city council is also considering extending Perdiswell Leisure Centre in a £6.5 million project by erecting an extra wing to accommodate a swimming pool, or demolishing it to build a brand new £13 million facility on adjacent fields.

Lesley Mettrick, of Drovers Way, who launched the football club petition, said: "It gets so congested because of the tip these days I avoid Bilford Road entirely on weekends, I'd rather go the long way.

"We're not giving up but we're in limbo until we know where the pool's going to be and how big it is."

The county council says it will have input into both planning applications - and is prepared to re-visit traffic flow to the tip.

Councillor John Smith, cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: "I know Bilford Road's been looked at in the last couple of years.

"I don't know if a solution is that easy but we'll certainly look at it again."