A MASTERPLAN, which sets out a “grand and ambitious” vision for the future of Worcester, has finally been adopted after receiving unanimous support from councillors.

The Worcester City Centre Masterplan, which was revealed by Worcester City Council last October, sets out a vision for huge developments across the city in the next 20 years which would create more than 8,000 jobs and 3,000 new homes as well as provide a £385 million-a-year boost to the local economy.

The expansive document imagines the formation of four quarters in the city – Riverside, City Heart, Canalside and Shrub Hill – all with a mixture of new homes, offices, restaurants, bars and shops.

Councillor Marc Bayliss, leader of the city council, said: “I don’t think it’s perfect for any of us and that probably means we’re in the right sort of area because we are all making compromises. Compromise is not a dirty word.”

Cllr Bayliss said he liked the identification of Shrub Hill and Canalside as a key area for development and he hoped those parts of the city could be regenerated to manage future housing need.

Cllr Adrian Gregson, deputy leader of the city council, said: “We’re at the stage now where we just need to crack on it with and get it out there."

Cllr Gregson said the council had been very careful to not to work towards the “lowest common denominator” so everybody could agree with every detail.

He said: “It is not a planning application, it’s a framework within which development proposals, discussions, negotiations and all those things can come forward. We will have a set of principles that we can hold up to developers and investors and local people saying ‘this is the way forward for Worcester, this is the way the council as a whole wants go.”

Cllr Louis Stephen, leader of the council’s Green group, said the “search for perfection was a fool’s errand” but while he did not agree with every word there was enough in the masterplan he could support.

He said: “Do I agree with every single part of the plan? No. Will every part of it see the light of day? Probably not. Is everybody inside this room and is everybody outside of this room happy with it? Probably not.”

The plan was backed unanimously by Worcester City Council on Tuesday (July 16).