RUMOURS that a £900,000 revamp of the Diglis area in Worcester are being scrapped or scaled down have been flatly denied by council chiefs - after they started circulating on the internet.

Worcester City Council's Conservative leadership says internet forum gossip that it wants to splash the cash originally earmarked for the Diglis playing fields on wider riverside improvements are unfounded.

Back in April the old Labour cabinet backed a plan to overhaul the fields, including new fencing around the playground and paths, outdoor gym equipment, transforming the third football pitch into a multi-space play facility and improvements on the approach to Cherry Orchard Nature Reserve.

The funds have come from five different developers' contributions in return for planning permission over new housing, known as Section 106 agreements.

A public consultation over the project ended in June and the results have yet to be published.

Labour Councillor Lynn Denham, who represents the area, has hit out over a "lack of communication" over the plans since the change of leadership, saying residents are in the dark over it.

On an open discussion form, diglis.com, there has also been rumours most of the funds will now be spent on the wider riverside area instead.

During a Worcester City Council meeting, Cllr Denham called upon the cabinet to "confirm or deny" the rumours.

"I've been asked by a number of Diglis residents why the results of the public consultation on the Diglis fields improvement project, which closed on June 30th have not been published," she said.

"Some of us spent a great deal of time encouraging wider community involvement on this consultation."

She said the rumours had been on the internet website recently and asked the leadership what they "want me to tell my constituents".

Councillor Andy Roberts, the Conservative cabinet member for cleaner and greener, said he had no idea where the rumours have come from.

"A detailed project plan has yet to be finalised," he said.

"If a deal like that had been finalised I'd know about it, and I don't."

He also said a report will be published soon for a cabinet meeting, which will include all of the feedback from the consultation, insisting he would be "as open as possible".

After the meeting Cllr Denham said it was "vital" the funds are "protected for their intended use".

The scheme also involves setting up a toilet at the site for use by the Worcester and District Model Engineers, which runs popular model trains from the site between April and October.

So far around £85,000 has already been spent on footpath improvements, play area improvements and landscape design.