WORCESTER City Football Club's proposed move to a new Nunnery Way stadium has moved a step closer following meetings between the council and local landowners.

The talks were arranged to secure a series of crucial reports requested by the city council in March.

They are needed to ensure that the full implications of the scheme are known in any future debate on the city's new Local Plan, which sets out the planning framework for the city until 2011.

They will look at the retail impact of the plans, the highway and traffic implications, and the design proposals, taking into account the surrounding area and the skyline.

Once these feasibility studies are complete, councillors will reconsider the relocation proposal and decide whether a case exists for the new ground and its adjacent B&Q retail development, which the club says it needs to fund the stadium project.

The club has produced a Business Plan, which was also vital to the proposal being considered.

But, until now, there had been problems with the other reports.

Because of the importance of the issue to the city, the council decided to approach the landowners directly to ensure the reports were provided.

The reports have been commissioned and should be with the council by early September.

They will then be considered later this year. If the council agrees to support the project, it will still need to be considered by a Local Plan public inquiry next year.

The club, the landowners and the council would all need to argue in favour of the proposals to stand a chance of winning permission for the scheme, which is contrary to Government planning policy and development guidelines.

Martin Clarke, the council's portfolio holder for development services, said the reports would ensure that all councillors would be able to consider the relocation before the public inquiry.