WORCESTER City Football Club could be playing in their new stadium in Nunnery Way within two years.

The Worcester News can reveal the club has earmarked the start of the 2009/10 season as the one where the team could run out at the new ground.

As we reported this week, developer St Modwen Properties has bought 20 acres of land for £3.15 million and wants to make it the new base for the St George's Lane team.

The club and the developer are on the verge of signing an agreement to design and develop the new ground.

If the deal is clinched, it will take one year to consult city council planners on the stadium, and another year to build it.

A spokesman for Worcester City Football Club said: "The whole process will take at least two years from start to finish, because we anticipate a year of planning and a year of building.

The new stadium would mean the club's current St George's Lane ground being demolished to make way for housing - it is earmarked for residential use under the city council's local plan.

The new stadium plans are still being drawn up, and are subject to a series of informal meetings between the club, the developer and the Guildhall.

It is unclear whether the plans will include any shops, but the city council has warned against "too much" commercial development on the site.

A Government inspector also said in 2004 that the Nunnery Way site should be a football stadium only.

City council head of planning Paul O'Connor said: "The city council has been discussing the Nunnery Way site with the football club, and those discussions are ongoing.

"We need to ensure a new stadium can be accommodated without too much enabling development."

St Modwen Properties said it will need further discussions with planners before any details are revealed.