Brookes students will be living in a new 885-room halls in Cowley for at least the next 25 years after plans were approved.

The scheme to build the student blocks on the Cowley Barracks site was approved earlier this week and Unite Students have now announced a long-term partnership with the University.

It is expected to be ready for the 2019/20 academic year and cost around £75m.

As the project will help Oxford Brookes University towards its goal of having no more than 3,000 students in private housing – it currently has 4,180 – it is exempt from having to provide or contribute to affordable housing.

Other schemes built in the city are required to be 50 per cent affordable, although exemptions can be made.

But Oxford City Council were concerned Unite and Brookes could only agree a 10-year agreement.

Following the approval on Wednesday night Unite Students revealed a 25-year deal.

CEO Richard Smith said: "This acquisition represents another exciting step in Unite’s strategy of building long term partnerships with high quality universities.

"It also shows our ability to continue adding to our market-leading portfolio of buildings in locations where there is a shortage of affordable high quality student accommodation and we can exploit our service platform to drive operating efficiencies."

Residents and councillors had complained over the lack of affordable housing and Oxfordshire County Council feared it wouldn't be possible to enforce the university's 'no-car policy'.

But the city council's east area planning committee stuck to the recommendations of planning officers and approved the plans.