A FORMER deputy Mayor of Worcester says the city has "failed" to properly tackle congestion - and is calling for a major rethink of policy.

Councillor Paul Denham, a veteran Labour Party figure, says the city's reputation for traffic jams is causing it damage on a national scale.

It follows research from Which? which looked at 26 different UK cities for short breaks and rated Worcester as among the worst of them for ease of getting around.

Which? Travel magazine examined 26 cities of relatively similar size for comparisons and of those only Gloucester, Hereford, Stirling and Lincoln were deemed worse for congestion.

Cllr Denham now says the city needs more research into how traffic flow can be eased.

He says the publication of a new city council dossier, the Corporate Plan, is a "serious failure" because the focus is elsewhere.

"I'd like people on the opposite side (the Conservatives) to explain how any of this will ease congestion," he said.

"Even the widening of the Southern Link Road will have an uncertain impact on congestion, at least until the Carrington Bridge is widened.

"What we really need is to research how traffic flow in our city can be improved."

He says the Which? research, which was aimed to examining holiday destinations for tourists, shows Worcester "has a long way to go".

The A4440 Southern Link Road in south Worcester is being part-dualled by 2018 in a scheme costing in excess of £38 million.

Although it is a county council project, the city council's new Corporate Plan mentions it alongside Worcestershire Parkway, the M5 improvements and faster trains to London as schemes it fully supports.

Councillor Simon Geraghty, who leads the city council and is deputy leader at County Hall, has called the criticism "nonsense".

"Congestion needs a whole series of measures, which are being put in place," he said.

"We know one in five cars drive all the way through the city centre and they don't stop, they don't actually need to be there.

"There's more investment in a generation going into that link road and once that's done we'll move onto the Carrington Bridge.

"If you want to tackle congestion you've got to think big, let's have none of this nonsense on congestion, Labour were in power 13 years (nationally) and nothing was done in this city or county."