A LEADING businessman is calling for a new link road between Malvern and the M5 motorway to help secure the town's prosperity for the future.

Peter Earp, managing director of English Braids, says Malvern must seize the initiative and be in the driving seat for change.

The M5 link idea is also being looked at by QinetiQ, which is currently undergoing a major expansion.

Mr Earp said: "One of the drivers for the prosperity of the town has to be industry and jobs and they need transport links. We all know how difficult it is to get across the bridge at Worc-ester to get to the M5, and the next bridge down is at Upton.

"But if you go out of Malvern down the Guarlford straight, you reach the Rhydd and you are just two miles straight across the river from the M5.

"Creating a junction 7A would make Malvern much more accessible."

Steve Booth, QinetiQ's site manager, said: "The link is something that is being talked about, when we are looking ahead into the next 15, 20, 30 years."

"QinetiQ has been growing for about three or four years at about 150 people a year.

"That's organic growth, new jobs, not people transferring from other sites. This has largely resulted from growth in our commercial work, not defence work."

He added: "The model is Cambridge, where there is now something like 1,500 high-tech companies which have been spawned in the area, plus all the companies for clerical support, marketing and so on."

Mr Earp is also advocating the creation of a world-class hotel in the country near Malvern and the extension of Townsend Way to form a bypass around the eastern edge of the town.

"We cannot avoid change, so if we are going to have it, it is better to be manipulating it ourselves," he said.

QinetiQ, county and district councils and regional bodies such as Advantage West Midlands are discussing the creation of a "technology corridor" between Worcestershire and Birmingham to diversify the region's economy.

The Department of Trade is to provide £22 million to get the corridor scheme off the ground, with more money to follow from the Government and Europe.

Advantage West Midlands spokesman Bill Jones said there were no specific plans as yet for an M5 link.

He said: "At the moment, the West Midlands has a bid in for a national centre for microsystems. If we get it, and it is based in Malvern, then we might want to look at the infrastructure."

Rob Sykes, chief executive of Worcestershire County Council, said: "We know that in order to make the technology corridor a reality, we will have to make sure that transport links are as good as they can be. There is going to be a study on this."

He said an investment company was being formed to fund development projects in the corridor.

Mr Earp will be highlighting his ideas at a Vision 21 meeting today (Friday) at 9.30am at the Foley Arms Hotel, Worcester Road.

Vision 21 goes to school, page 15.