A BID for European funding to expand and develop Malvern Hills Science Park has been reviewed and returned for clarification.

The money is needed to develop Phase 3 and 4 of the project and science park manager Nigel Shaw said the bid was for just under £5 million.

"All the bids have been reviewed. Some have been accepted but our bid was referred back for clarification and development. It hasn't been turned down," he said.

"The money is to develop the science park physically in terms of the layout and also develop the concept of supporting companies based out of the area and giving them better access to DERA."

Phase 2, a £1.8m Regional Technology Exchange which was funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, is already well under way and is due to be finished by the end of the year.

This building will provide a large, semi-permanent display area where companies can show off their work to prospective commercial organisations.

"This will allow us to say this is the capability of Malvern and this is what goes on here," said Mr Shaw.

He added that in order to access more European funding, they needed to demonstrate an innovative use of the money.

"We're looking at the concept of running the equivalent of an agricultural ring for hi-tech companies because a lot of firms are short on capacity but high on need."

Mr Shaw said that one company might have high value capital equipment it is not using and another might have programmers free so if they invested in the ring they could use each other's equipment.