AN application to build 98 new homes on Worcester City Football Club's ground has been lodged.

Bellway Homes has submitted plans to Worcester City Council to transform the ground that has been City's home for 102 years.

We previously reported how the club will move from St George's Lane into a new £8 million stadium on the outskirts of Worcester at Nunnery Way between junctions six and seven on the M5. The 20-acre site was bought by St Modwen Properties for £3.15 million in April last year before City signed an agreement in October to let the developers build a 6,000 capacity stadium.

The club hopes its players will be able to run out onto the pitch within the next two years, and that ambition now seems to have moved a step closer.

However, when contacted by your Worcester News yesterday club chairman Dave Boddy said he could not comment on the application but added he hoped to make an announcement in the coming weeks.

Bellway Homes' application includes 24 one-bedroom flats, 30 two-bedroom flats, 18 three-bedroom houses, and 26 four-bedroom houses, car parking, and landscaped open spaces.

City had previously been linked with selling its ground to developers Miller Homes.

In May 2005 they were named as the club's preferred developer and were handed an exclusivity contract to complete their planning proposals. However, a failed bid to move to Nunnery Way in an initiative involving DIY store B&Q put a hold on that.

The sale of the land at St George's Lane will wipe out the club's spiralling debts, currently standing about £900,000, and will help finance the cost of the new stadium, which will be handed over to City. However, the plan also involves St Modwen retaining about 12.5 acres and using it for office and leisure facilities, which could include a new hotel.