WORCESTERSHIRE County Cricket Club's dream of a £10 million stadium has been approved by the city council.

The news was announced on the tannoy yesterday at New Road to jubilant fans as the county played Loughborough.

Club chief executive Mark Newton said: "This is a major, major event in the club's history.

"There is still a long way to go and there is a lot of work to do on the finance side, but our aim is to start work at the end of this season end of September.

"Now we have to find a commercial partner to work with, find the funding and sort out the finances - all the boring things that have to be done before a brick can be laid, but I think the point is it has been a four-year project to find a solution to this.

"This decision gives us the chance to create really high quality facilities without losing the ambience of the ground."

However, the city council planning committee, while approving the plan, said it was not happy with the design of the new stadium building and wants to bring the club back to the negotiating table.

For more see Friday's Worcester News