A plan for a new market at the Oxford Castle site is being considered by city councillors.

Work is under way to transform Oxford Prison into an 87-bedroom hotel and heritage centre by late 2004.

Now, the county council and the Osborne Group, who are transforming the site, have put forward plans for a market on the Castle Street side.

The proposal is to allow 20 market stalls to open seven days a week with a different trading theme each day.

These will include specialist foods, pictures and art, books and prints, crafts, antiques and collectors' items.

City councillors are backing the plan, but they want to ensure that the future of the Gloucester Green weekly markets and the Covered Market are not jeopardised.

Colin Cook, the city council's executive member for the city centre, said: "We want to see the Oxford Preservation Trust and the county council get the best possible start with their plans at the prison site, that is why we are not going to charge for a licence."

On Monday (December 23), the city council's executive board will consider a recommendation to charge no fee for the licence, but take steps to ensure that the viability of the Covered Market and the Gloucester Green markets every Wednesday and Thursday are not affected.

Executive board members will also consider a confidential document detailing a rent settlement with Covered Market traders.

Alan Lester, chairman of the Covered Market Traders' Association, has raised concerns that the nature of any new market could subtly change over time to become a threat to existing markets.

No-one from the Gloucester Green market was available for comment.

Trevor Osborne, chairman of the Osborne Group, said there was no intention of competing with the existing markets.