A LEADING city councillor has said the council should be "bold" over plans to re-open an empty cafe on the River Severn.

Councillor Chris Mitchell, chairman of Worcester City Council's planning committee, said the cafe on the North Quay - which closed in October last year - had huge potential and he felt the council had missed a few things and not moving quickly enough on some of the city's 'low-hanging fruits.'

He said: "I would really like to see us be bold.

"It's such a popular walking site that riverside, there are literally thousands of people waking there at the weekend and there is nowhere to have a coffee.

"I think for the risk of buying a kiosk and employing someone for six months over the summer as a pilot, we gamble 30 grand potentially but I don't think we'd lose 30 grand. Some cafes make a couple of grand a week.

Cllr Mitchell said he believed that at least 1.2 million people had been clocked on the riverside in a year. "If 20 per cent of them spend a fiver, that's a million quid," he said.

Speaking at a meeting of the council's income generation subcommittee on Tuesday (January 15), Shane Flynn, corporate director of finance and resources at the council, said he shared Cllr Mitchell's sense of frustration over the pace of change.

Mr Flynn admitted the council had under-invested in some of its assets and in some areas that would allow for the council to bring in money.

He added that 'necessary' work over the last few years had put a structure in place - one it did not have before - to allow for the council to generate more income.

Cllr Roger Knight said the council should be picking out opportunities and not allowing grander plans - such as the City Masterplan and the riverside development project - to swallow them and prevent growth.

He said: "Don't let them break and stop the progress in what we are trying to do.

"Let's get ahead of the game."