A SENIOR council leader in Worcestershire has poured cold water on a new M5 link to serve Malvern - saying it is a "long, long way off".

Councillor Phil Grove, who has just become leader of Malvern Hills District Council for a second time, says he feels a new motorway junction is off bounds due to the costs.

But the Conservative veteran has also urged fellow decision-makers to take the debate seriously, saying if it is to ever become reality, the time to discuss it is now.

As your Worcester News revealed last week, Councillor Tom Wells has raised the matter directly with bosses at the county's Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Councillor Grove said: "It is good that we are having this debate, to look at the traffic in Malvern and see what the options actually are.

"We all see what the traffic can be like on the motorway, especially for people trying to get to Malvern but this isn't something I can see happening for the next 15 years - it's not in the plan.

"It's a long, long way off - but that being said, the time for us to start discussing this is now.

"Wherever you put it (a new M5 junction) it will never be right for everyone, but you'd have to have that debate about the economic benefits and tourism and see what people think."

Last week, during a Worcestershire County Council meeting, Councillor Wells used a Q&A with the LEP's executive director, Gary Woodman, to ask if an M5 junction for Malvern had ever been examined.

Mr Woodman said the county's decision-makers had come to the conclusion that over the next decade, dualling the A4440 Carrington Bridge was the priority, with an M5 upgrade off the agenda.

The estimated costs of dualling the bridge is believed to be around £70 million, with the county council currently during exploratory work to prepare a business case.

At the moment people trying to reach Malvern tend to come off the motorway at junction seven, using the A4440 Southern Link Road and the congested bridge to reach the town.