THE KASSAM Stadium is bidding to become a top business destination as plans for a fourth stand and new homes are back on the table.

Owner Firoz Kassam said formal proposals for the Grenoble Road football venue were again the subject of talks with Oxford City Council.

The scheme – first reported in January 2014 – could involve building about 260 homes on the stadium’s overflow car park, as well as at its corners.

It comes as the businessman and former owner of Oxford United Football Club prepares to open a new 87-bed hotel next to the site by the end of the year.

He told the Oxford Mail he hoped the stadium and hotel could together become a new location in the city for business conferences.

But news of the development schemes has reignited concerns that The Priory pub - located on the same land as the hotel - is being left derelict.

And it was claimed this week Mr Kassam had attempted to sell his 99-year lease on the building back to the city council for just £1.

Speaking about his development plans for the stadium area yesterday, he said: “The plan - or idea - is to finish off the stadium, but that will only come to fruition if we can get a planning application in.

“The hotel will come first but we also want to deal with the Priory and are talking to the city council and other parties to see if we can find a solution.”

City council leader Bob Price said his authority would support the scheme, but said it would be subject to the city’s new “design review panel”.

According to the local authority’s planning policy, land around the stadium could be used for a housing development.

But this is only as long as the stadium remained and development did not prejudice the construction of a fourth stand.

A land study carried out by the local authority said up to 138 homes could be built at the overflow car park, as well as up to 80 off Knights Road and 40 on land around the stadium.

Mr Price said: “From our point of view it is a good scheme because it will bring in housing.

“They would clearly be attractive to those who want easy access to the stadium, or those who work at the Oxford Science Park and BMW.”

He added concerns remained about the Priory pub, which he said Mr Kassam had offered to sell to Oxford City Council a year ago for a £1. The offer was declined because of the cost of refurbishing it, he added.

Mr Kassam declined to comment on the claims, but said: “I do business in private.”

Permission to build the three-storey hotel at the site was granted in December by the city council and construction has already begun.

It will be part of the Hampton by Hilton chain and is expected to employ more than 20 people.

In the conditions for the hotel, the city council said Mr Kassam had to complete repair works to the Priory.