Plans to reopen Oxford Stadium have taken a positive step forward after Kevin Boothby, who runs two other greyhound tracks, said he had secured the lease.

Campaigners have been working for years to try to get the former greyhound and speedway stadium in Sandy Lane reopened.

In 2019 businessman Nik Budimir said he was close to submitting an offer to buy the facility in Sandy Lane, Cowley, and turn it into a multi-use venue.

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The entrepreneur said he was willing to invest up to £25m re-establishing greyhound racing, speedway and a dance school at the stadium, while adding a boxing club and possibly a rugby sevens pitch.

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In 2016 several years after the stadium was closed, city council came up with an ambitious plan to seize back control of the site.

Until then attempts to revive the site had ended in failure, with owners GRA Acquisition and parent companies seemingly not responding to bids or requests for talks with the council.

Then with the help of Andrew Smith, MP for Oxford East, lawyers looked at the prospect of a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO), which would allow them to obtain the land without owner GRA Acquisition’s permission.

It was the latest twist in the ongoing saga at the site.

In April 2013 the council refused Galliard Homes planning permission to build 220 homes on the site, adding it to its heritage asset register that July, meaning parts of the site can only be used as sport and leisure facilities.

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It was also listed as a conservation area in April 2014, protecting it in law against “undesirable changes”, and an asset of community value in June 2015, making it very difficult for developers to demolish the site for homes especially without the input of the community.