WHICHEVER party controls the council from next week will inherit a series of transport projects and plans.

Roads tend to be the responsibility of the county council, but authorities such as Worcester City Council are involved in the process too, under the highways partnership scheme.

The county council is in the first year of its five-year Local Transport Plan.

This covers matters such as alternative transport, safety, the Wyre Piddle bypass and park-and-ride schemes.

6 Wyre Piddle

Residents of the village near Pershore have been calling for a bypass for many years.

They learnt at the end of last year the Government was finally prepared to pay for the scheme.

However, the foot-and-mouth epidemic has helped to delay the road's construction.

An archaeological survey must be carried out before the diggers move in.

The archaeologists could not begin work due to restrictions imposed as the disease spread across Worcestershire in the spring.

Now they are looking to start examining the ground for clues to the county's past in the summer. This has pushed work on the bypass back several months, to February.

6 Park-and-ride

Worcester's northern park-and-ride opened in mid-April, following years of opposition from residents in the north of the city.

Worcestershire County Council and Worcester City Council are joint partners in the project, although the county council has paid the lion's share of the £2.5m cost.

The planners at County Hall intend the Perdiswell scheme to be the first of several.

Park-and-rides to cover the southern and eastern approaches to Worcester have been discussed, although their locations have not been fixed.

6 Extension to Worcester's Western Bypass

This has been talked about in the past, but officers at County Hall insist nothing is being proposed at the moment.

The cost of building a road between St John's and Claines, complete with a northern bridge, might reach £30m.