A MEDIUM-sized supermarket could be accommodated in the St John's area of Worcester if Sainsbury's revised its plans, traders and residents heard.

A supermarket on the scale of the chain's Lychgate branch could even help boost trade for the community.

The St John's Traders and Residents Association discussed the idea last night as one of a range of possibilities for the future of the district.

Although the city council has rejected Sainsbury's plans for a 26,000 sq ft supermarket at Swanpool Walk, the firm may appeal against the decision.

"What I wanted to see was a supermarket that sells a limited selection of goods," association chairman Dennis Ogle told the meeting.

"You wouldn't get your larger packs of Pampers or huge boxes of Cornflakes. It would stimulate trade at the other end of St John's."

Any development at the site is constrained by preservation orders on the Smokestack pub and former Picasso's nightclub.

But Mr Ogle believed Sainsbury's could build into the Smokestack to create a shop front effect that would make it part of the community - rather than tucked away in Swanpool Walk.

The meeting also heard calls for Christopher Whitehead High School to be preserved as a vital social and economic player in the community.

Its current Malvern Road site faces bulldozers if Tesco's plans for a supermarket are approved.

"Christopher Whitehead has a huge part to play in the social structure," said Mr Ogle.

"The kids coming from all the different areas bring their parents, their grandparents and all their families here.

"Its ethos is powerful. If the school was physically lifted up and put at Tudor Way or Grove Farm, it would take such a huge chunk out of here."

The meeting resolved to press Sainsbury's to make public the findings of a questionnaire it carried out when drawing up plans for St John's.