A SHOCK legal wrangle over building a new £19 million Worcestershire Parkway railway station could be on the cards, it has emerged.

Your Worcester News can reveal how council chiefs are trying to prise the land needed to build the station, in Norton, from the grasp of a private developer.

Worcestershire County Council says "should it not be possible" to acquire the land it will use a Compulsory Purchase Order - a legal power to take the site without permission from its owner.

We can exclusively reveal how the key land needed to build the station, which has been called for since the 1970s, is controlled by Norton Parkway Developments Ltd.

The firm insists it has its own plans to deliver a rail station on the site and has recruited a private partner to bring forward proposals along the same timescale as the council, but cheaper.

The company says it is happy to negotiate on a 'joint agreement' over the development, but that it will not be bullied into handing the site over.

But in recent months the council has secured its own funding for the facility alongside Worcestershire's Local Enterprise Partnership, and is submitting a planning application in February with a view to opening in the spring of 2017.

We understand talks took place as late as Monday over the saga, which threatens to rumble on over the winter.

The Conservative cabinet is meeting today to endorse making a Compulsory Purchase Order "rather than wait for the outcome of negotiations" in case the talks fail.

The tense wrangling comes after the Government awarded the long-awaited project £7.5 million in July, effectively giving it the green light.

Finance chiefs at County Hall are putting another £12.3 million towards construction, with bosses also factoring in fees from a 500-space car park, saying the station should break even over a 25-year period.

The Conservative leadership does not want to comment on the CPO threat publicly, but has reiterated its desire to see Worcestershire Parkway delivered on time and budget.

Councillor Simon Geraghty, deputy leader and cabinet member for economy, skills and infrastructure, said: "We all want to see parkway happen as soon as possible, it's an ambitious project which is crucial for how we want to see the economy develop."

A spokesman for Norton Parkway Developments Ltd said: “We control the land and will deliver a train station on the same council timescale, or earlier, that will save Worcestershire’s taxpayers millions.

“We have a partner on board, and have already told the people involved that we are a willing player in this development.

“We are happy to deliver the station ourselves, the private sector, with one of the biggest leading network operators in the country at a cost saving to the taxpayer."

The land in question is on the same footprint as the Crucible Business Park in Norton, although that will not be affected at all by parkway being built, requiring no demolition or relocation at all.

It will require use of the existing ponds though, and the public right of way running through the business park from Woodbury Lane will require an upgrading to allow cyclists to use it to access the station.