AN application for funding to build a new access route onto the M50 near Upton-upon-Severn has been turned down by the Government.

In July Worcestershire County Council and the Malvern Hills Highways Partnership applied for £1.25million to build a motorway link at Sledge Green. It aimed to provide an alternative route between Malvern and the M50 and M5 motorways when the bridge at Upton becomes impassable because of floods.

However, Upton residents feared that if the project had gone ahead, more expensive plans to raise the A4104 in the town would have been binned.

Now the Government has promised to pay between £15,000 and £20,000 for an immediate feasibility study into the problems of floods and traffic. It is hoped the study will highlight a project for which a new funding application can be submitted by April, in time for the next financial year.

"The Government has given us permission to use part of our local transport grant to do a feasibility study," said partnership manager Mike Davis.

Options the study will examine are raising the A4104, improving the Worcester South M5 link and the new M50 link.