YORK City chairman John Batchelor hopes to submit a detailed planning application for a new stadium within the next six weeks.

And he says he expects City of York Council to come back to him shortly with a wish-list of facilities it would like the new ground to offer.

He revealed that the authority had already raised the possibility of the stadium featuring an athletics track.

But he said he would only consider this if the front rows of seating all around the pitch could be rolled backwards and forwards.

It was vital to ensure fans were close to the action when football was being played, so as to prevent the atmosphere being ruined.

Mr Batchelor, buoyed up by York's thrilling 4-3 victory at the weekend, was speaking as a deadline approached for the council to come back to him with a more positive attitude towards the stadium move.

On July 26, as he revealed that he wanted to build the stadium at Clifton Moor, he launched a stinging attack on "inept" council officers and put negotiations with the authority on hold for 30 days.

He said he wanted to give the authority time to display a better attitude, say where it would like the stadium to be built and indicate what facilities it would like the ground to offer.

Since then, he has held talks with leading officers and councillors and, although they would not talk about the Clifton Moor site, he said the discussions had been constructive and he would not be sticking rigidly to the deadline.

However, he did expect the council to come back to him shortly with a list of what it wanted included in the stadium. He said one possibility might be conferencing facilities.

The proposed site for the new stadium, close to Ikon and Diva nightclubs at Clifton Moor, is in York's Green Belt.

The council has made it clear that for an application to be considered at such a site, the applicant would have to show that the development could not go ahead on another site outside the Belt.

Mr Batchelor said a consultant was now looking at other possible sites across the York area - "maybe 18 sites".

He hoped to be able to submit a detailed planning application to the council within four to six weeks.

A City of York Council spokesman said: "We have been working with John Batchelor on his proposals for a new ground and we have outlined what the council's requirements would be if a planning application was submitted.

"We will be continuing our dialogue with Mr Batchelor, to provide advice, as these plans develop."

Updated: 12:16 Tuesday, August 20, 2002