LANCASTER University will not grow beyond its new borders when its £112 million redevelopment is complete.

A meeting is planned next week, which will see University representatives discuss their latest proposals with concerned villagers in Galgate, including plans to help alleviate flooding.

Bosses hope planners will give their scheme the thumbs up next month, allowing completion of the first phase by the start of the 2003 academic year.

The first phase will see more than 500 student rooms built on green fields around the former Barker House Farm.

The second phase, on the same site, will add 1,700 rooms by 2004.

Two existing colleges will be bulldozed and replaced in time for 2005 and three colleges will be replaced by the project's end in 2006.

And director of estates, Steve Lunn, says the university will not be allowed to build on any more of the greenfield sites around the campus.

One new innovation in the latest version of the plans is a 'reservoir', which will collect water during times of heavy rainfall and release it slowly to prevent flooding at Ou Beck.

Another innovation is a new access road, which will connect directly to the A6.

Mr Lunn, also reacted to some of the criticisms made of the scheme, which will be built by Jarvis Construction.

On the speed of the development, he said: "We first received outline planning permission for the south-west campus in 1993 and it has been in the local plan ever since then.

"We began putting together our estates master plan in 1999 and we have been developing it since then."

On the 'unimaginative' design: "By demolishing some of the existing buildings we will be able to create new green space within the university perimeter.

"We can also give the colleges more of an identity.

Although the materials will be from the same 'palette,' the layout will be varied."

On rent levels and the 'expensive en-suite rooms' opposed by students: "We realise that rent levels have to be set below our competitors.

"New rooms will be en-suite, but that isn't such a big factor in the level of rent - an en-suite room, for example, only needs to be cleaned by us once a year.

The new accommodation will also mean we can offer studio flats or family flats, particularly aimed at overseas research students.

"We will still have some of our existing accommodation, which will help us to provide a range of accommodation and a range of rents."

On the environment, he added: "What can be more green than having more students on campus and avoiding the journey from town?"

On the possibility of building in town: "We do not own any land in the city centre and we cannot afford to buy any, so that is not an option.

It isn't something which has been raised by many people."

The university also claims it will not be able to build on the opposite side of the M6 motorway, having sold land it owned there during the financial crisis of the mid 1990s.

The plans will also free up more space for economic projects, including the Lancaster Environment Centre, currently under construction and expected to be Europe's leading centre for environmental research on completion, as well as the Infolab, scientific and computing project and a possible new medical faculty.

Sports facilities are also in line for an upgrade in the near future.