THE needs of Upton-upon-Severn appeared to have been forgotten in favour of a scheme to provide a new slip road off the M50, said town mayor Eric White.

The £1.25m M50 slip road at Sledge Green seemed to be the preferred option of Worcestershire County Council, he told town councillors.

But local people did not want the M50 link and the roads through the villages were not suitable to take the extra traffic, said Coun White.

Upton's choice would be a £3m scheme to raise the A4104 near the river bridge, so that vehicles could get across the River Severn into the town at times of flood.

At present, traffic from the east has to go to the Mythe Bridge at Tewkesbury or the Carrington Bridge on Worcester's southern link road when the A4104 is flooded.

A feasibility study into the possibility of raising the A4104 was promised after meetings with Government Ministers arranged by West Worcestershire MP Sir Michael Spicer.

"Whether or not a spur off the M50 is an alternative, they still have to look at the feasibility of the Upton scheme," said Coun Roger Barker, at a town council meeting.

"No-one I have spoken to has said raising the A4104 isn't necessary. They all support it, but no-one wants to pay for it."

Sir Michael has written to the county's director of environmental services, Richard Wigginton, saying that he does not believe the M50 link should be included in the annual review of local transport plan.

He said there was already a perfectly adequate link road and the proposed M50 spur would be a waste of money, besides being environmentally detrimental.

Coun Bullock said 95 per cent of those at a public meeting in Hanley Swan, which he and the mayor had attended, agreed with that view.

Afterwards, county transportation manager John Seddon said there was no favouritism in the county council's approach.

"We are carrying out three studies into ways of improving traffic management during flooding," he said.

"One is the raising of the A4104, another is the M50 slip road and the third is the improvement of junctions on the Worcester southern link road.

"An exhibition and consultation will be held in Upton Memorial Hall on Thursday, May 22, from 2pm to 8pm, covering all three studies, with detailed costings of each."

In bidding for funds, the council would have to convince the Government that any scheme would be a good use of public resources, for the strategic benefit of the whole county, he said.