Plans for a Brighton and Hove community stadium at Falmer will go before a special council meeting on June 12.

Brighton & Hove Albion has submitted two applications for the stadium on sites at Village Way North and Village Way South.

The city council's planning committee has set the date of the meeting so far ahead so there is time to receive views from the Highways Agency and Lewes District Council.

Council leader Ken Bodfish said: "This is a very complex application.

"There will be lots of lobbying on both sides but officers and councillors will take a cool, methodical approach based on applying national planning guidelines.

"This is effectively a legal process. Under a code of conduct, everyone has to take a neutral position until all the information is before the committee.

"Nobody connected with deciding the application will be expressing a public view on the pros and cons of the application before it goes to the committee."

There is strong support from football fans for the stadium but it is hotly opposed by environmentalists and people living near the sites.

Albion have just been promoted to Division One and urgently need a new ground to replace their temporary home at Withdean, which has a capacity of only 7,000.

Whatever the planners decide in June, the application is likely to be called in for a public inquiry.

Albion chief executive Martin Perry said: "It's great news for the club because we now have a date to work to and the date is fine.

"The decision that is taken on June 12 is possibly, in terms of the history of the club, as important as the twin championships."

The club was last month accused of holding up the planning process by not submitting information required by Brighton and Hove City Council.

The applications were scheduled to be considered by councillors in January but although the club provided a huge amount of documentation, council officials also asked for a business plan and an updated analysis of sites.

Mr Perry said: "There have not been delays. It is an analytical process. There were queries and we filled in the gaps."

Mr Perry said the club was geared up for a public inquiry, should the plans be called in by the Environment Secretary.

He said: "The likelihood is that we have got three more seasons at Withdean. There is no doubt the opponents of the scheme have lobbied hard to get it called in."