A CRUNCH decision over Worcester's £150 million John Lewis-led shopping park will not be made until next year, it has emerged.

The city council's planning committee has given up any hope of voting on it before Christmas, with officers still mired deep in detailed preparation work.

Your Worcester News can reveal how a decision is now unlikely to be made until February at the earliest, leaving city centre traders on tenterhooks over the winter period.

We exclusively revealed 15 months ago how developer Land Securities wanted to build a sprawling retail plaza on green fields known as Worcester Woods, before the planning application was submitted back in January.

But the complexity of the huge project has bogged down council officials, not least because of the impact on the roads and the city centre.

An independent, council-commissioned study revealing the likely knock-on impact for the High Street, which the developer will be billed for, is also yet to be published.

The chairman of the city's planning committee, Councillor Alan Amos, told your Worcester News he was "not rushing" to get to a vote.

Only one more planning committee meeting is planned before the end of the year, this Thursday.

"This is one of the biggest things that will ever come before us, it's a huge issue and we've got to get it right," he said.

"I'm not rushing to get it to the committee, it is so important and we must make sure it's thoroughly thought through.

"We need it done properly."

The out-of-town complex, which would create 551 jobs, is for 13 shopping units off Newtown Road spread across 394,000 square foot, one third of the entire city centre retail floor space.

A 30,000 sq ft Marks &Spencer, 60,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s with an eight-pump petrol station, £7 million 40,000 sq ft John Lewis at Home store and a Next Home and Garden outlet are all signed up so far, with the promise of more to come.

But in recent months objections have come in thick and fast including from shopkeepers, all the out-of-town retail parks in Worcester and Malvern, and even the Kingfisher Shopping Centre in Redditch, which claims it would tip the balance too far.

But Land Securities, the nation's biggest developer, has urged Worcester to improve its shopping to avoid "falling behind" rival destinations like Cheltenham and Birmingham.

Chris Fleetwood, from Land Securities, said: "Worcester is losing £151 million each year to competing retail centres.

"The Worcester Woods development, with its own John Lewis at Home store would mean more money is retained in Worcester supporting local jobs and the local economy."