WORCESTER City chairman Anthony Hampson is hoping the club will only have to ground-share for one season after they leave St George’s Lane.

Now that planning permission has been granted for St Modwen to build a stadium as part of their Nunnery Way development, City have hope of a future beyond their exit date of June 2013.

With the project not being called in by the Secretary of State, which would have meant a lengthy delay, the timescale for construction can also be accelerated.

St Modwen have not said when building will start, but Hampson remains optimistic of being able to move in for the 2014/15 campaign.

“We have asked them (St Modwen) to give us a date when the building work is going to be happening,” he said.

“I am hoping it can be pushed forward, if it can’t then a ground-share will be inevitable for one year. It won’t be built by June 2013 and I think we will be having to ground-share but hopefully for one season.”

Before building can begin, which City hope will be with cost-reducing prefabricated structures in the first instance, a bridle path has to be moved from the site and Hampson said St Modwen are due to do that by next month.

City also have the unresolved issue of capital gains tax, the level of which directors are working to reduce.

The chairman said: “We have had a meeting with St Modwen and, despite the fact the application isn’t going to be called in by the Secretary of State, there are still some issues to be resolved.”

But he added: “The situation is better than I thought it would be because the planning went through which could have been a major delay as then we would have had to have gone to appeal.

“Also, it’s not being called in by the Secretary of State which has reduced the programme down by about nine months.

“If they had called that in it would have been eight or nine months more of procrastination.

“The essence of what the club now needs to do is to put our investment of thought into the new ground rather than worrying about the maintenance of St George’s Lane.

“I would prefer the club’s resources to be expended more on the new ground.”

Several options are being considered for temporary homes, including Bromsgrove Sporting’s Victoria Ground and Evesham United’s new Cheltenham Road base.