NO investigation will take place over any press leaks about three council workers who were suspended during Worcester's Ketch island fiasco, it has emerged.

Worcestershire County Council says it will make no attempts to find out who leaked the news that the trio had been placed on gardening leave.

The stance, from leader Councillor Adrian Hardman, comes after he was asked to take action on it by a former Mayor of Worcester.

Labour Councillor Pat Agar asked him to confirm what he had done about the leak, before she was told any "great investigation" would not be right.

He also said he felt focusing on the problems with the island was a far more constructive approach than trying to establish "who said what".

Speaking during a full council meeting, he said: "I'm going to disappoint you here, but in my experience I don't think it's really constructive to have a great investigation into determining who said what to the press.

"I think we're better off dealing with the relevant issues to do with the highways - so I think the answer (to the question of what has been done about any leaks) is none."

Councillor Agar said she wanted to "register my disappointment" over his stance.

We revealed in June how three workers were told to go home on full pay pending an investigation into the botched Ketch island, which has now had extra safety measures done on it.

The suspensions followed an unprecedented apology by council chiefs following the coning off of two lanes under emergency measures, after a Facebook video highlighting serious safety concerns at the island was viewed 83,000 times.

Permanent changes were then made to the £8 million island following a hurried safety assessment, including the hatching off of a controversial merger lane at the exit for Carrington Bridge.

We revealed in September how two of the workers have since been allowed to return, but the council has been unwilling to comment publicly on it - nor has it revealed the fate of the third employee.

The Ketch island, in south Worcester, was enlarged in size as part of the ongoing £41 million dualling of much of A4440 Southern Link Road to ease congestion.