THE leader of Worcester City Council has come out in defence of a group set up to try to improve the city.

Councillor Simon Geraghty responded to criticism of the Worcester Alliance by saying he has high hopes it can deliver something tangible for the people of Worcester.

As the Worcester News reported on Saturday, Coun Mike Layland labelled the group a "talking shop" that does little to improve the lives of ordinary people. The Worcester Alliance meets every two months to bring together the city council, Worcestershire County Council, the police, NHS and local businesses.

Coun Geraghty, who has been in charge of the Tory-led city council for a year, sits on the alliance board.

Coun Geraghty said: "I take the criticism that has been levelled at the Worcester Alliance. What we've got to do is develop a better way of feeding information back from it to the city council, so we can engage people better.

"The Worcester Alliance should not be a talking shop, it should be about delivering services on the ground. Hopefully we can squash those criticisms, because I believe it can deliver for Worcester."

There is a feeling inside the Guildhall that councillors are being kept out of the loop on what the group talks about, a notion the leader is trying to combat.

Coun Adrian Gregson, leader of the Labour group, said: "One of the biggest concerns we have is the relationship between the Alliance and members of the city council, and how information is being fed back to us."

The city council has confirmed it will put a link on its website to the Worcester Alliance site so both the public and councillors can find out more about it.

The Alliance has no budget to work with, and was set up in 2000 to bring together all the top bosses in Worcester.

It was involved in drawing up a bid for lottery money to redevelop the waterfront last year, which was rejected. It also debated the expansion of the University of Worcester.