Oxford City Council will stop the universities moving into new buildings until fewer than 3,000 of their students are living in private city homes.

It comes as the latest annual survey shows the numbers of students living outside university accommodation has soared, with Oxford University and Oxford Brookes both breaking their caps.

The council’s monitoring report for 2010/11 shows that 3,251 Oxford University students were living in city houses, up from 2,991 last year. Brookes’ total rose from 3,493 to 3,611.

Under Town Hall planning policies, both universities could be blocked from moving into new teaching and administrative buildings until the numbers are cut.

That would include buildings in Oxford University’s new Radcliffe Observatory development later this year, and Oxford Brookes’ new Headington campus in 2013.

City council deputy leader Ed Turner said: “The universities have been clear about the policies and acknowledged the reasons for them all along, so they have got to find a way of ensuring that they meet the requirements.”

Asked whether the council would stop the universities moving into their new developments, Mr Turner said: “There is not a lot of point in us having said that if we don’t mean that.

“The council means it, otherwise it would be a waste of time.

“But I don’t think it will come to that because the universities will recognise the importance of meeting the requirements.”

The report predicts Oxford University may find it easier to meet the targets, because new accommodation blocks are already being built.

Spokesman Matt Pickles said it would be up to Oxford City Council to decide whether the university could move into its new buildings when they were complete.

The report predicts student numbers at Oxford Brookes may fall because of new £9,000 tuition fees, but the university has since seen a 4.5 per cent increase in applications.

Brookes said it was aiming to meet the 3,000 cap before autumn 2013, when it is due to move into its new Headington campus.

Director of Corporate Affairs Dr Anne Gwinnett said: “We continually review the way we measure student numbers in private rented accommodation to ensure the figures are as accurate as possible. This has resulted in the higher numbers reported for 2010/11 in comparison to 2009/10.”

Since the report was produced, an extra 117 student rooms had been created at Clive Booth Hall and there were 150 fewer new students than last year.