STAFF in Worcester city's planning department are working up to 400 hours in unpaid overtime a year to meet tough government targets.

Major concerns have been raised about the pressures on the city council department and bosses have been urged to hold an urgent inquiry.

Worcester City Council has produced an astonishing set of results for determining planning applications over the last 12 months. Latest data reveals performance in the last year is 17 per cent above the national target, with 68 per cent of all major applications complete in 13 weeks.

But the true cost of over-worked staff has led to calls for a review into the way the planning department is organised.

Planning officer Alan Coleman said: "Once again, performance is exemplary, and latest results show we are in the top five per cent in the country.

"There is a cost to how that performance is achieved, however, and it equates to between 300-400 hours of lost time that officers have given the city council for free.

"There is a lot of pride and goodwill in the team to achieve these targets, but my concern is that we don't have any long term absence through stress-related illnesses. We don't want performance to dip, and all our staff deserve a lot of credit, but I am concerned," he said.

There are currently 10 workers who are responsible for dealing with planning applications from Worcester residents.

Staff leaving is believed to contribute to most of the overtime. Because of the time it takes to replace them, others need to work harder to keep on getting top results.

The cabinet has now been urged to investigate the matter to see if more staff can be recruited once the elections are over.

Coun Paul Denham, deputy leader of the Labour group, said: "We do have a duty of care to staff, and to expect them to work overtime to meet targets is simply unacceptable. I would urge the cabinet to review staffing in the planning department with a degree of urgency after the elections."