Work on a £37m sports stadium to house both York City Football Club and the York City Knights Rugby League team is set to start in May, after more than a year of delays, from plans which date back to 2009.

The 8,000-seat stadium – designed to easily expand to 12,000-seats should the need arise – is scheduled to be built in a timeframe of 18 months, opening in late Q3 2016.

A consortium led by Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) has been awarded a contract by City of York Council to oversee and build the new development, which will also include a swimming pool, gym and artificial football pitches.

Also being constructed as part of the development are retail outlets from Marks and Spencer and Next on the 339,000sq ft (31,494sq m) land area.

The Council is investing £8m into the project, with the rest coming from grants and revenue generated from commercial developments.

Work was due to start on the project earlier this year, but a combination of unseasonably cold weather and the discovery of great crested newts – which are a protected species under Schedule 5 of the Wildflife and Countryside Act 1981 – led to lengthy delays.