A NEW business park will be built on vacant land in Worcester after approval was granted despite major concerns over congestion.

Outline planning permission has been granted for a 46,000 square metre park and creche to be built on land off Newtown Road and Nunnery Way.

About 15 office blocks would sit on the land south of the former Newtown Hospital site, which is currently green fields, once the project is complete.

Before approving the development Worcester City Council's planning committee had a fierce debate over how the area will cope with even more traffic.

They came to an agreement that access to the site should be provided off Nunnery Way, despite a report from the Highways Partnership stating access should be made available from Newtown Road.

The county council also wanted access to the site to be made available off Newtown Road, something city planners criticised. Until the developers submit more detailed plans for the site it is not known how many jobs could be created.

Coun Barry Mackenzie-Williams said: "We are already loading traffic on to a very busy road and quite frankly there is a limit to the amount of traffic Newtown Road can take.

"Providing access to the park from Nunnery Way is the best option. Newtown Road has a lot of traffic coming off other routes. It's not as if there aren't already a lot of cars coming in."

Coun Paul Denham said: "I have real difficulty understanding what the Highways Partnership is saying about this. I drive through there at peak time at least once a week and there are big queues already.

"It will be inconvenient for the people who live around there."

Now outline permission has been granted for a business park more detailed proposals will have to be submitted to the planners.

Planning officer Mark Taylor said: "What has been approved is outline planning permission, so we don't know about how many jobs it will create."