A SECOND car-busting scheme to introduce a park and-ride-bus running into Bewdley town centre was put before councillors at Monday's meeting.

Up to 1,500 vehicles could be sited at a strip of land on the Wribbenhall side of the river, said Councillor Nigel Knowles.

Ownership of the land - between Sandbourne Drive and Bewdley by-pass - would need to be established although bus companies should not be put off if it was in the green belt, he said.

The news follows a snub by the Environment Agency - which is to slash 40 spaces in the town centre with the Severnside South flood defence project - to provide a park-and-ride service based at Bewdley High School, opposite Sandbourne Drive.

The Environment Agency should provide an alternative "car parking strategy", but had not yet "put forward a positive solution" said chief executive of Wyre Forest District Council Walter Delin in a letter to members of the town council.

And spokeswoman for the Environment Agency Lynn Fraley told the Shuttle/Times & News that a park-and-ride scheme was "not in our remit".

But Mr Knowles said the town council should now look to push for the land by the by-pass to be used for park-and-ride.

He told Monday's meeting: "I think it's the future.

"We do need a park-and-ride and if we have a place like this we can have people parking and then getting on the bus."

The spaces will be lost on Severnside South because demountable flood defences will need to be attached to the ground when a flood warning is received.