The club have secured a nine million pounds loan from the council, which will now allow them to complete their agreed 12m pound purchase of the ground from the Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletic Company.

Yorkshire had been granted a 15-year international staging agreement by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on the condition they owned their own ground by the end of 2005.

The council met this morning to give the go-ahead to the loan, which must be repaid over 15 years.

It means that, for the first time, in their their 142-year history, Yorkshire own their own ground.

The county aim to raise the additional three million pounds from a public appeal.

Friday's announcement appea-red to bring to an end a lengthy process which at one stage saw Yorkshire contemplate moving to a new, purpose-built, ground at Wakefield, near Leeds, only to have the plan collapse when the Headingley owners pointed out they would be in breach of their lease.

Headingley, where one of the main stands backs on to the Leeds rugby league ground of the same name, is one of English cricket's most historic venues.

But there have been complaints that its facilities are not up to the standards expected by modern spectators.

Despite not owning the ground Yorkshire have redeveloped Headingley in recent years amidst fears that international fixtures could be lost to Durham's Riverside and Hampshire's Rose Bowl grounds.

Those fears were brought into focus earlier this year when Headingley, for all its history, did not stage a Test match during England's Ashes series against Australia.

Yorkshire have plans to further increase the capacity from its current 17,000 to 20,000 with work on the Grandstand and at the Kirkstall Lane end.