THOUSANDS of GP patients were waiting today to hear whether an £8m health centre will open in Worcester.

Councillors were due to approve final proposals for the Newtown Road complex, which will offer improved healthcare for 40,000 city residents.

Last month, they said they would allow the three-storey building - which will incorporate the St Martin's Gate and Haresfield House surgeries - if parking space was increased.

Council officers continue to oppose the application, saying the potential site should be used for employment land instead.

But they accepted that the land, next to the Lidl supermarket, would go after the number of parking spaces was upped by 43 to 216.

"We're pretty confident at this meeting it will get approved because they've done the changes members asked for, not withstanding officers recommending refusal," said Peter Yates, planning manager at Worcester City Council.

"It's a worry as far as planning officers are concerned because we are struggling to meet targets for offering employment land. There's quite a lot but as officers we think we could have more."

At the last meeting, councillors spent two hours debating the application and backed the plan by seven votes to five.

Mike Ridley, the chief executive of the South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, told them he was "desperate" for the proposal - which had been refused twice before - to be accepted.

Last March, the Evening News launched a campaign after it was revealed the PCT delayed plans for new GP surgeries following changes to Government funding formulas.

Construction of the new surgeries building is set to start in June with the first patients being welcomed through the doors in July 2006.