WORK has come to a halt on a park-and-ride at Worcester Warriors' Sixways stadium while the ownership of a vital piece of land is transferred.

Although the construction of the park-and-ride in the car park at Worcester Rugby Football Club has been completed, the service cannot start operating until the strip of land in question is linked up with the new Pershore Lane roundabout.

Negotiations are currently being finalised for the land on the right hand side of Pershore Lane to be bought from the Highways Agency for £15,000.

Andy Baker, Worcestershire County Council's integrated passenger transport manager, said: "The park-and-ride parking area is complete and we are awaiting highways agreements to enable commencement of the new to old road connections so that traffic can access it.

"There were Highways Agency land issues and also lighting column issues, due to the overhead cables, stopping the work and we believe these have now been overcome.

"It is anticipated the land will be transferred by the end of this week so the highways agreements can be agreed shortly after.The work on the highways is due to commence in six weeks' time with completion anticipated mid-to-end of July. Temporary road closures have been applied for to enable this."

He said the money for the land was recovered from the club as part of the overall development and will not be passed on to the taxpayer.

A Highways Agency spokeswoman said: "The piece of land in question includes a part of a public highway which has made the sale more complicated than a normal transaction."

Once completed, the new service will be a second park-and-ride for the city, joining the existing one at Perdiswell, although there is still a question mark over how frequently the service will operate after the scheme was scaled down last year.

The park-and-ride was built as part of a £23 million revamp of the North stand and car park.

The car park has also been completed although no date has been confirmed for when work will start on the North stand.

New plans for an £8 million East stand including box office, Sixways superstore and new club reception offices has also since been approved and work started last Monday.