THE man responsible for the repairs on Worcester city centre's High Street has defended the current round of work.

County councillor Derek Prodger, cabinet member for the environment, said the picture featured in yesterday's Worcester News that showed uneven slabs outside the Guildhall concerned him so much that he visited the site.

He said the picture showed work that was incomplete and asked for "a little bit of understanding" while engineers finish the job.

"As reported at the start of January, works are underway to repair the slabs in front of the Guildhall," he said.

"These repairs involve relaying the slabs, albeit with a stronger material filling in the gaps in between.

"This material is a darker colour than the original. The particular area that has generated comments is actually the front edge of these repair works.

"It is only a temporary overnight and weekend fix', putting the front short row of slabs down on sand. This means that we can remove barriers and make the area available for both pedestrians and delivery vehicles to use until work starts again the following day.

"The main reason for completing the repairs in this way is because we want to do what's best for traders, both in allowing the use of the area for shoppers and tourists, and also ensuring that delivery and collection vehicles that need to can still access businesses' frontages.

"We want to minimise the disruption to the High Street during these works."

The county council is currently going back to the drawing board while the interim repairs are carried out, but coun Prodger said the project is one that is "very close to my heart" and promised quality materials will be used.

"I want to make absolutely sure that the traders, shoppers, and our tourists have a very good repair job," he said. "This is not going to be a cheapy, but while this work is going on I would just ask for a little bit of understanding."

The £1.3m project to refurbish the city's main shopping street has been dogged with problems since it began in May 2004.

The work was organised by the-then transportation partnership including Worcestershire County Council and Worcester City Council.

It was finally completed in May 2005 but cracks and holes began to appear in sections of the new surface just two months after it was laid.