A NEW million-pound cycle path looks set to be built in Pershore.

Councillors will meet next week to discuss contributing £150,000 towards building an 850-metre cycle and walking path to the north of Wyre Road in Pershore.

Plans to build the new cycling path have come forward following calls by local businesses to improve routes in a bid to get more staff to cycle and walk to work.

The council wants to build path to create a direct link between the business park and Pinvin - once the link road work has finished - as well Station Road in Pershore.

It also hopes the path will form part of improvements to travel links with Wyre Piddle, of which negotiations over land are well underway.

The creation of a new path has been discussed for several years alongside other work to Pinvin crossroads, new link road and bridge over the railway line.

The need for a dedicated cycle and walking path came about following talks with several businesses in Keytec Business Park who had all encouraged staff to ditch the car and travel to work without a car only to find there was not a safe route - especially Wyre Road - to cycle on.

The businesses said that despite buying cycle storage and producing travel plans, many staff were put off by cycling or walking to work due to the lack of route.

Matters could be made worse when the link road work has finished and more cars are on the road making it more dangerous to cycle and putting staff off even further.

Worcestershire County Council has recently put forward two bids to the government for walking and cycling money. The first of which it received £150,000 - half of the money it bid it for - and was well-criticised.

A second bid of just over £1 million was then submitted last month.

The county council said if the bid was successful, some of the money would go towards the proposed cycle path off Wyre Road which it hopes will boost routes between Pinvin and Wyre Piddle and Pershore Secondary School, Pershore Station and the business park as well as Pershore town centre, as well as Evesham and Worcestershire Parkway and Worcester.

The district council expects the rest of the money to be fronted by Worcestershire County Council as well as extra money from housing developers.

The district council's executive board meets on September 16.