COUNCIL chiefs have provided a springboard to get a plan 'to bring City home' off the ground, including through a cash injection.

In May, the Worcester News exclusively revealed that council-owned land off Parsonage Way in Warndon, Worcester, had been earmarked as a possible new home for the troubled football club.

Worcester City have not played home games in the city since 2013, and in the summer we reported on how another proposal - a 4,400-capacity stadium in Perdiswell - was rejected by the authority's planning committee.

Worcester City Council's powerful policy and resources committee unanimously agreed to endorse the principal of securing Worcester City a long term home at the Parsonage Way site.

It was also agreed that £100,000, funded from the City Plan Fund, would be set aside to enable the development of Parsonage Way.

The plan is for club officials to submit an outline planning application for a pitch, a stand, a club house and flood lights at the site, which would be available for community use.

And potentially the council would grant a long lease of 50 years to Worcestershire Football Association, who will then grant an underlease to City - in a bid to protect public assets through a not-for-profit organisation.

The club would then be paying a peppercorn rent of £1 per annum.

Committee members were reassured that this money was not funding a future application but instead it would be used to fund technical and preparatory work, such as environmental investigation of the site - which would be vital information for a planning application and to the council generally.

This information would also be useful to make an informed decision on a future planning application, officers told councillors.

Officer also told councillors that there was a difference from a commercial developer being supported in this way, and it could be justified, as there was a football club involved which brought with it a significant community aspect.

Warndon Parish South Ward Councillor Lucy Hodgson said: "We have to make sure this facility is available not just to the football club, but other areas (of the community).

"There is a lot of work to be done.

"I plead that at all times there is proper community engagement with all levels of the community and we work together on this to make sure the best deal is done."

Worcester City Football Club has previously issued a statement saying they are backing the Parsonage Way scheme as the way forward to fulfilling the ultimate ambition to bring the club back to the city in time for the start of the 2019/20 season.

Worcester City FC chairman, Anthony Hampson, was approached after the meeting but declined to comment.