LABOURERS at a Worcester building site could face an order to down tools if they carry on working outside the times they are allowed to.

At the latest St Peter's Parish Council meeting, it was revealed workers at Persimmon Homes' 91-property development at a former oil storage depot near Homebase, Bath Road, had been operating outside their permitted hours.

After the meeting, Worcester city councillor and St Peter's parish councillor Roger Knight said: "Some of the residents were complaining that there were out-of-hours working on the site, now called Hamilton Grange.

"The city council monitored activity and noted the working hours condition on the planning permission was being breached."

He said the permitted hours were between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, with no activity allowed on Sundays.

He said although the breaches had now stopped, some residents were experiencing problems with lorries queueing to enter the site before 8am.

However, he said PC Andy Chuter, the area's police officer, had negotiated with the licensee of the Timberdine in St Peter's Drive, to allow lorries to park in the pub's car park before 8am to ease congestion around the site.

Alan Coleman, the city council's development control team leader, said an enforcement notice, forcing the developer to adhere to the regulations, could be issued if necessary. However, he said the breaches had been "isolated" incidents.

He said: "For that reason, the decision has been made at this stage that it's not expedient to serve the enforcement notice. We do continue to monitor this situation closely."

He said officers recently inspected the site and discovered workers were complying.

Chris Walker, managing director for Persimmon Homes South Midlands, said: "Following a request from Worcester City Council, we have stopped taking deliveries prior to 8am and after 5pm. This, however, has forced our suppliers to make their journeys in and out of the development at times when traffic is busy.

"We are extremely conscious of the fact that building work inconveniences the local community.

"However, this problem could be alleviated if the council reviewed its position with regards to deliveries to our development."