Does Worcester need a new bridge for walkers and cyclist in the north of the city?

And should money be allocated into starting work sooner rather than later?

While most councillors might be agreed that a new bridge would be a useful addition to the city’s transport infrastructure, the timing of funding was the subject of a confrontation at the Guildhall between leaders of the Labour and Conservative groups.

As the city council’s Place and Economic Development Committee discussed the draft budget for the next year, to be finalised in March, Councillor Marc Bayliss, leader of the Conservative group, and the council’s deputy leader proposed a new item – spending £500,000 on a cyclist and pedestrian bridge linking Kepax Park with Gheluvelt Park north of the city centre.

He said: “The Diglis bridge has been a great success. I’d like to allocate £500,000 as a signal that we will build a bridge linking the two parks.”

Last year the city council agreed to spend £150,000 on a feasibility study to see if such a bridge would work and whether it was needed.

That was the bone of contention, with council leader, Labour Councillor Adrian Gregson saying: “We are already doing a feasibility study. Why allocate more money on the bridge before we know whether it is a sensible idea. This is putting the cart before the horse.”

Cllr Bayliss said he was frustrated with the slow progress and added: “This is not money for that – it’s the first down payment on actually building it. There were many naysayers about the plan to build Diglis Bridge but now hundreds of thousands of people use it on a n annual basis.”

The three Labour councillors on the six-person committee, Cllr Gregson, substitute councillor Roger Berry and Councillor Geoff Williams voted against the proposal. The three Conservative councillors, Cllr Bayliss, Councillor Simon Geraghty and Councillor Lucy Hodgson voted for it.

As Cllr Hodgson chairs the committee she had the casting vote, and the addition to the budget was approved.

The same process saw another £500,000 allocation for housing support excluding social housing, £100,000 for business support and the removal of a proposed saving of £55,000 from planning.

The draft budget will go to the Policy and Resources Committee before a final decision made by the full council.