Concern has been expressed by Oxford councillors over what the former prison will look like after its re-development.

The city council has received planning applications from London-based developer The Osbourne Group to build a 72-bedroomed hotel, 33 apartments, an education and exhibition centre, a health and leisure facility, a wine bar, a caf and public toilets.

Plans also include 27 car parking spaces, 202 cycle parking spaces and new pedestrian access from Castle Street and Paradise Street.

An aerial view of the Oxford prison site

At a city planning committee meeting yesterday, Cllr Maureen Christian said: "I am concerned about how it's going to look from the outside. If it looks like a hotel and restaurant it's not going to attract people to the heritage of the site."

Committee chairman Cllr John Goddard said: "The whole site needs to have an attractive entrance and exciting openness once you are in there."

The prison closed in 1996. If planning permission for the development is granted, it would open in 2004.

There will be a public meeting on May 2 and a further report will be discussed by the city's planning committee on May 21.