TEMPORARY car parking which has already lasted half a decade in Worcester is set to be extended another three years by city council planning bosses.

For the last five years Cattle Market car park at the Butts has been a handy-parking spot for shoppers, workers and tourists.

The site originally became a car park because long term use for the land was undecided.

A temporary agreement was seen as an ideal way to help drivers park up in Worcester.

Now the site is set to have its agreement extended to 2009, or until another use for the land is found. Planners originally thought a five-year agreement back in 2001 would be long enough for something else to be proposed on the land.

Now with the potential of a riverside regeneration on the cards there is a concern that not enough parking spaces are available in the city.

It falls within the St Clement's Gate area and it is anticipated that by 2009 a new development would provide a regeneration boost to the area. The site continues to provide a cash windfall to the city council even though car park provision directly contravenes its policy on sustainable transport.

Though a huge expansion of the Worcester park and ride service is on the cards, it would not be complete until 2011.

The agreement - which planning bosses have approved - is seen as a useful way of generating money while permanent use of the site is so unclear.

The site will come up for discussion by city councillors tomorrow.