A plea has been made for highways chiefs to urgently assess the road network in Stourport amid fears the town will face gridlock when a new supermarket opens.

A £75 million relief road for the town is already hanging in the balance due to the recession and now councillors fear the town will be completely overwhelmed by traffic following a successful planning application by Tesco.

The retail giant has been given permission to build a new supermarket, petrol station and car park on part of the former Carpets of Worth site in Severn Road.

And their application has prompted developers Arab Investments to submit a fresh bid to build houses, shops and leisure facilities on the remainder of the former factory site – further fuelling fears that the town will be swamped by cars.

Independent Community and Health Concern county councillors for Stourport Town Council, Jim Parish and John Thomas, have now written to Worcestershire County Council requesting a meeting with highways chiefs to discuss what can be done to combat potential increases in traffic levels – and to ask why a solution has not been found sooner.

Worcestershire County Council had agreed to hold the meeting at a date to be fixed.