THE city council’s leader has issued a heartfelt plea for Worcester City to return home - as ambitious plans for a new stadium are on the verge of being submitted.

Councillor Adrian Gregson says the club are at the “heart of Worcester” and that the city “needs the club” to come back as quickly as possible.

He also says the authority is keen to continue talking to the club over its future plans until a solution can be found.

“A city like Worcester needs a football club - the tradition of having the club here is part of its heart,” he said. “It’s a key element of my thinking and there’s an enormous amount of goodwill towards them.

“We want to get them back on track - the club had has unofficial talks with the council over the future and we hope we can achieve that.”

It comes just as Worcester City Supporters’ Trust, which is working on proposals for a 4,100 capacity stadium, says it is now expecting to hand a planning application in this month.

The trust is hoping it can be built at Perdiswell, and wants the council to offer some land as part of any deal.

Rob Crean, trust secretary, said: “We’ve got most of our surveys back but not all of them, and that’s what has held it up.

“I’m looking to have a pre-submission meeting with the council before we hand the documents in so we don’t miss anything out.

“We are looking at September now and if that gets approved, we’ll be investigating sources of funding for it.

“There’s Sport England, the Big Lottery - lots of help we can go for, and we also hope the council give us the nod over the land - that’s the next big thing for us following the application.”

Under the proposal, it would sit on land next to the existing leisure centre in Bilford Road and include a full-sized, all-weather floodlit pitch for community use.

A planning application was originally expected to be submitted in July, but was held up over wildlife surveys.

If the September target can be met, it could be voted on by the planning committee as soon as January.

The club, which left its old St George’s Lane home in April, is now playing at Kidderminster Harriers’ Aggborough ground.