PLANS to make Worcester's riverside an attraction for international tourism have been revealed - under a five-year blueprint to improve the city.

The city council has today published a new vision for Worcester by 2021 designed to pull in more investors, create jobs and make more of its heritage.

The masterplan, produced under a groundbreaking deal between all three political parties, includes:

- A new "Riverside Plan" aimed at revamping parts of the Severn to make it more attractive to tourists

- Making Worcester a nationally-renowned "hub" for competitive swimming via the new £10.5 million pool at Perdiswell Leisure Centre

- Securing official 'Heritage City' status for Worcester, an accolade which brings in more visitors

- Fewer empty shops and the conversion of as many redundant upper floors as possible into flats to get more people living in the city

- A new "rail park and ride" to link people with Worcestershire Parkway

- Enhanced walking routes around the city to get people fitter

- More start-up businesses launching and lasting beyond 12 months, a higher rate of graduates staying in Worcester after their studies and a project to encourage firms to relocate to the city

The eight-page dossier, called the Worcester City Plan 2016-2021, is fairly abstract but details 51 different outcomes politicians want to achieve.

Central to it is taking the riverside to another level by making it an "international as well as a national destination".

In June the council unveiled ambitious proposals for a riverside park, revamping the section stretching from Northwick to Cherry Orchard Nature Reserve.

It is 3.5 miles long and the aim is to get it featuring the attractions of a park like play facilities, grassed sections and flowers.

The park and ride idea will need to be developed with the county council, and will aim to tie in with the opening of Worcestershire Parkway at Norton in March 2018.

It comes after the controversial axing of Worcester's Perdiswell park and ride in 2014 due to high costs and falling take-up.

Much of the rest of the blueprint focuses on business and health, including targets on increasing the average wage, more job choices, a higher portion of the city's population gaining NVQ Level 3 qualifications and less poverty.

Securing official 'Heritage City' status will aim to give Worcester a higher profile across the UK and overseas by working closely with Visit England, particularly on increased marketing to USA tourists.

The Heritage City tag only launched in 2013 and is held by just 11 UK destinations including Bath, Chester, Durham, Oxford, Stratford, Cambridge and York.

Living above the shops is a campaign Green Councillor Louis Stephen pushed for to ease congestion and make better use of empty floors.

The document will be going to a full council meeting next Thursday for a vote, but has been co-produced by the Labour, Conservative and Green group leaders.

Labour Councillor Adrian Gregson, the council's leader, said: "We have come together as leaders of Worcester’s three political parties to formulate a shared vision for the city."

Councillor Marc Bayliss, who leads the opposition Tory group added: "By working together we can ensure the council’s long-term focus will remain on increasing prosperity and improving job prospects for residents right across Worcester."

Councillor Stephen said: "I’m delighted all three parties have prioritised the protection of Worcester’s environment through this plan."

He added: "Politics can be very petty and adversarial, so I'm really pleased to have played a part in this co-operative style of cross party working.

"The result is genuinely much better than if one party had tried to do it by themselves.

"I'm pushing to see much more of this cross-party working for the benefit of local residents."

The active working agreement between all three parties, which the Worcester News first revealed three months ago, comes after several years of power swinging back and forth between the two main parties.

The idea behind the shared vision is that regardless of which party holds the key to the administration, the headline aims of the council will remain the same until 2021.

It comes after talks over a possible 'Rainbow Coalition' during a chaotic summer period fell apart.

The full dossier can be seen HERE.