STATE schools could be offered the use of a new state-of-the-art sports pitch under plans by a leading independent school.

Magdalen College School is hoping to create a new all-weather pitch and pavilion on a sports ground off Marston Road.

The ground belongs to Magdalen College but would be leased to the Cowley Place school as part of the £500,000 scheme.

If planning permission is given by Oxford City Council the 1.4 hectare site will be used mainly for football and hockey.

School bursar Nick Carter said: “It will be used by the school with an agreed amount of time for the college.”

The plan would mean it would no longer be one of the county’s few independent schools without its own all-weather facility.

And Mr Carter said state schools would benefit as part of its ongoing work with the community.

He said: “We do have an active outreach programme and bring in young teams to train with our coaches.

“We do this with rugby and cricket and we would not wish to exclude this facility.

“Our outreach programme is very broad and covers a lot of areas.

“Different schools have different priorities for sports and for us hockey has always more popular in the spring than football.”

The school has told the council it would be at a “competitive disadvantage” if it did not win permission.

It said Marston’s primary schools could benefit as well as St Gregory the Great secondary school in Cricket Road.

But Mr Carter said it would be “premature” to approach others until permission is given.

Pupils will walk from the school to the new sports pitch, near the Centre for Islamic Studies building.

Currently, its 840 pupils use facilities rented from Oxford University in Iffley Road or bus them to the Oxford Hawks Sports Club in Banbury Road.

Last night St Gregory the Great and St Michael’s CofE Primary School along Marston Road were not available for comment.