Staff at Upton Surgery should hear today (Friday) when work will start on the new £5.2 million medical centre at Tunnel Hill.

Building was due to begin at the end of last month, but planning and legal problems caused delays.

Speaking on Wednesday, practice manager Phillipa White said negotiations with lawyers, banks, contractors and Worcestershire County Council had caused the hold-up, as had the Easter holiday.

Final agreements over highways and utilities work were required and signatures co-ordinated for the deal to go ahead.

"The timing of it is really crucial," said Mrs White.

"Everything has to be in place for exactly the right time."

When built, the state-of-the-art centre will have individual consulting rooms and will also house dentists, physiotherapists, social services and district nurses.

The surgery was due to receive a timetable for the building work today and hopes to tell residents the news at a meeting about the town's flood defences in the Memorial Hall this evening.

Plans for the new medical centre, originally announced in 2003, were initially delayed due to funding and planning problems.

Final permission was granted in 2004, despite the fear of Upton Civic Society and some residents, that it would create a ribbon of development between Upton, Tunnel Hill and Holly Green.

Mayor John Thompson welcomed a start being made on the new building.

"The council voted in favour of it going there and we'll look forward to it happening," he said.