A DECISION over a new football stadium for Worcester City FC is edging closer - with a significant public consultation starting “very shortly”.

Just one document remains outstanding from the club’s supporters’ trust before Worcester City Council can trigger a fresh 21-day period for people to have a say over the revised Perdiswell Park proposal.

The progress has been revealed by the city council’s leader, Councillor Adrian Gregson, who has been holding regular private talks with club officials.

A special joint council-club ‘working party’ suspended a search for alternative sites back in October, due to the expectation the planning application at Perdiswell will be voted on shortly.

Councillor Gregson said: “The working party is dedicated to exploring options for the football club returning to Worcester, and we have undertaken a thorough and extremely useful review of sites in the city.”

In March 2016 the club announced its deal to rent Bromsgrove Sporting’s Victoria ground would be for two years, with the option to extend by a third season if necessary.

That means the club’s immediate future is safe, but the time it would take to fund and build a stadium at Perdiswell means the club may need the full three seasons as a Bromsgrove tenant, even if the Perdiswell project is accepted by councillors on the planning committee.

Mark Newell, from the club’s the supporters’ trust said: “There is now just one document still to be submitted for the Perdiswell planning application, the final part of the design and access statement.

“This will be with the planning department very soon, and we will be hoping for a decision on the application as soon as possible after that.”

Both the club and politicians have come together regularly since last summer and warned there are only “a small number” of options on the table if the Perdiswell bid ultimately fails.

The hunt for other sites, which was prompted after a request from Worcester Green Party, has proved largely fruitless, although the exact pieces of land which have been looked at have been kept confidential.

The original application for a new ground at Perdiswell, submitted in April 2014, has been bogged down in difficulties and has attracted around 1,400 public comments, with more than 1,000 in support.

After St George’s Lane closed in 2013 the club has been in exile, playing at Aggborough and now Bromsgrove.