TOTTENHAM fans will be celebrating after plans for the club's new stadium were approved by Haringey Council at a planning meeting on Thursday evening.

After three years of groundwork and drawn-out negotations, Spurs were finally given the green light to create its 56,250 seat "world class stadium" as part of the Northumberland Park development project.

The build is expected to be completed by 2018.

But Mayor of London Boris Johnson has the final say on whether or not the development should go ahead and it was made clear the plans do not have the blessing of Transport for London (TfL).

The premiership club and TfL, chaired by Mr Johnson, have been unable to agree on a suitable figure that would be ring-fenced and used to improve transport links at Tottenham Hale.

Spurs have offered £2 million which planning officers said they believed to be sufficient but TfL wants the club to raise that amount to £3m.

Councillors sitting on the planning committee, including former council leader George Meehan, backed the recommendation from officers and unanimously voted the plans through despite warnings Mr Johnson could overturn their decision.

The mayor can now take three courses of action of either supporting the decision, refusing the application and sending plans back to the drawing board, or stripping the council of its planning powers and taking on the responsibility himself.

Fears were raised at the meeting that if the development was refused, Spurs would be pushed to submit a bid to take over the Olympic Stadium in east London.

The move would mean the loss of significant regeneration opportunities to Northumberland Park - considered one of the ten per cent most deprived wards in the country.

Under Spurs' plans, Northumberland Park would get a three-storey "mega food store" complete with a sky bar and roof terrace, more than 200 new homes and a hotel.

The high street would be significantly redeveloped but listed buildings of signicant local importance would be preserved and incorporated into the scheme.

A public square will also be created which could be used as a market or to host performances.

Only one listed building, Fletcher House, will be demolished, but was a sacrifice the council should be prepared to make, officers said, considering the overall contribution the development would bring to the area.

Three objectors spoke at the meeting, and six people spoke in support of the scheme.

Concerns around the scheme are centred on traffic in the area because of the increase in capacity at the stadium which will be erected to the north of Spurs' current White Hart Lane home.

Criticisms were also made of the introduction of a match day and a non-match day controlled parking zone which would potentially cover a significant part of Tottenham, stretching as far as the existing Wood Green parking zone and crossing the borough boundary into Enfield.

Residents expressed fears of the size of the supermarket and it being granted the opportunity to operate 24 hours a day despite overlooking a residential area.