Detailed blueprints have been approved by York Council for the initial stage of the development of the university, which will see a new college created to provide accommodation for more than 600 students and staff.

Work is expected to start on Goodricke College on the Heslington East site on the outskirts of the city in July, as the long-awaited expansion of the university, which has been mooted for more than 30 years, now becomes a reality.

The leader of York Council, Coun Steve Galloway, said: "The expansion is vitally important to the future prosperity of the city, and I am very pleased that the university has clinched the go-ahead for work to begin.

"The development will provide new jobs and investment, especially in the science-based sector which has become the bedrock for the transition of York's economy in the last decade.

"I am obviously aware people may have concerns over the scale of the development, but it should not have been unexpected. York is already one of Britain's leading universities, and this expansion will consolidate its position and allow its worldwide reputation to blossom."

The university is already one of York's largest employers, supporting 4,500 jobs in the region and contributing £112m each year to the local economy.

The overall expansion will increase student figures by 5,400 – the equivalent of more than 50 per cent – and bring 2,000 jobs, as well as 2,500 research posts.

Housing for 3,300 students is also due to be built, along with sports facilities, 1,500 parking spaces and research institutes. New law, dentistry and creative arts faculties will also be created.

League tables place York in 74th place out of the top 200 universities in the world, but it is hoped the development across more than 280 acres will ensure its global reputation is enhanced even further.

There are about 1,700 international undergraduates and 1,300 postgraduates at York University, with many foreign students coming from the Far East.

The development of a new campus has had a long history, with the land planned for the expansion being allocated in 1967, as part of the former East Riding Development Plan.

The site, to the south of Field Lane, Heslington, was later included in the draft City of York Local Plan in 1998.

But the development has provoked widespread concerns from residents living near the campus, who have claimed that the expansion will further erode the local communities and create major traffic tailbacks on York's already congested roads.

It emerged three years ago that the council had received 428 objections from the public about the development, with only 48 responses of support.

The proposed expansion was discussed at a planning inquiry in 2006, before the Government last year gave the go-ahead for the expansion scheme.

Councillors on York Council's planning committee approved the 622-bed Goodricke College during a meeting on Wednesday.

The college is named after John Goodricke, an 18th Century astronomer who lived in York.

Building it marks the start of construction of the first cluster of development on Heslington East which will also comprise the department of theatre, film and television, the department of computer science, the creative technologies hub, and the law and management schools.

York University's Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Estates, Elizabeth Heaps, said: "We welcome the council's decision which clears the way for us to begin to realise our vision for the university's future."

The present Goodricke College will relocate from Heslington West and is due to open in its new premises in October next year. It is anticipated that the law and management schools will move to their new premises
in 2011.