A LEADING Worcester city councillor has hatched a plan to "blow Tesco's bid out of the water" in the St John's supermarket battle.

Councillor Simon Geraghty hopes to secure a compulsory purchase order on a "ransom strip" of land owned by the county council and clear the way for a Sainsbury's store.

A successful bid would bring to an end the deadlock between Tesco and Sainsbury's over the prime piece of land in Swanpool Walk.

"Sainsbury's does have permission to build on the site, but to construct the supermarket it needs to purchase a 'ransom strip' of land belonging to the county council," said Coun Geraghty.

"They favour Tesco's offer for a state-of-the-art new school for Christopher Whitehead.

"As far as I'm concerned, the county council has a lock-in agreement with Tesco and they won't consider another bid.

"It means we could be left in limbo over this land for up to four years, while the Sainsbury's development is already in the Local Plan.

"We have the power to issue a CPO over the county council and I will be selling this idea to help end this deadlock, which could blow Tesco's bid out of the water."

Coun Geraghty now has to persuade next Thursday's planning committee to back a compulsory purchase order in principle.

He said that, while he would welcome any further planning application by Tesco, the matter needed to be "resolved quickly".

The county council wants a £10m new school on the outskirts of Worcester and a Tesco supermarket built on the old school's site in Bromwich Road.

The city council wants Sainsbury's to build on the Swanpool Walk site and would receive a figure in excess of £100,000 for the strip of land. The county council would be compensated for the loss of land.

Sainsbury's bid includes a new leisure centre to be put in place before the current one closes down. It is also believed it would contribute a seven-figure sum to revamp the exisiting Christopher Whitehead High School.

"It's a matter of fact that Sainsbury's only control properties on the fringes of their scheme and none of the food store site itself," a spokesman for Tesco said. "Tesco control all of the land required for its scheme."