ROYAL Worcester Porcelain will find out later this week if it has won permission to expand its shop space.

The firm's plans to turn a storage area into an extra retail space were deferred by the city council's planning committee when it met last month.

Planners had recommended that the proposals for the Old Slip House, on Severn Street, be refused.

They were concerned that there was already a shortfall in the amount of car parking available on site.

And the proposed expansion of the shop would require a further increase in parking capacity.

The firm refused to enter into a £17,000 financial agreement in lieu of providing those extra spaces, a course of action regularly used by planners.

Director of development services, Stuart McNidder, told members the money could have been spent on a residents' parking scheme in the area or other efforts to clear the problem of on-street parking in the area.

Paul Stevenson, from Worcester Porcelain, told the committee at its last meeting that the scheme itself would cost around £40,000 and that a further £17,000 would mean it was no longer viable.

Negotiations between planning officers and the firm are continuing and will be reported to the committee when it meets to discuss the proposals again on Thursday.