The Bees are set to leave Griffin Park and move to land off nearby Lionel Road to the proposed 17,250-seat stadium.

The new stadium projects forms part of a combined residential scheme being developed by Be Living in joint venture with the club.

The decision to start work on the stadium comes after planners at the London Borough of Hounslow approved amendments submitted for Brentford Community Stadium and 487 homes in surrounding residential blocks.

Contractor Buckingham Group Contracting is preferred bidder for the stadium element of the project with Mitchell Demolition on board for clearance work.

Stadium capacity has been scaled down from 20,000 to 17,250

Around seven new residential buildings rising to 15 floors will be located on a ten-acre site on Lionel Road South, close to Kew Bridge.

The first phase of the residential element of the scheme has been redesigned to offer more apartments to rent and buy, designed to meet the housing needs of the local area.

Cliff Crown, Chairman of Brentford FC, said: “This decision by Hounslow Council is a great early Christmas present for fans.

“We now hope to be in a position to begin stadium construction in February 2018, following completion of a revised agreement with LBH on our obligations and will share more details with fans on the stadium build phase early in the New Year.”

Matthew Townend, Managing Director at Be Living Ltd, said: “Securing Hounslow Council’s support for the planning amendments takes us a step closer to delivering the Brentford Community Stadium development.

“We’re all very excited to be part of creating a vibrant new community that hopefully acts as a catalyst for positive regeneration in the local area.”

The project team includes Arup as structural and M&E consultant with Arcadis as project manager and Manchester-based AFL, the architects.