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Warwickshire County Cricket Club has been given the green light to move forward with its £30m redevelopment of Edgbaston after objections from local residents were dismissed.

Some demolition work began last month but Warwickshire was waiting on a challenge by a residents group that had taken its case to the Court of Appeal in December.

Work can now progress on a new stand that will increase the capacity of the ground to 25,000 after the appeal was rejected. A new banqueting suite and exclusive members' areas will also be erected, while the player and media areas will be revamped.

Warwickshire chief executive Colin Povey said: "The redevelopment of the ground is critical to ensure Edgbaston keeps its competitive edge and remains a worthy contender in the race to secure international matches.

"This result is not only fantastic news for us, our players, members and cricket fans, but also for the economy of the West Midlands. There is great excitement at the club about the proposed changes and I hope we can now look forward to starting the building work without further delay.

"The next 18 months will be an important chapter in the history of Edgbaston and Warwickshire County Cricket Club. Our plans have received strong support from the city council, Advantage West Midlands and the majority of local residents."

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had threatened to remove the ground's Test status after the redevelopment plans, first proposed in May 2009, were stalled by Birmingham City Council's planning committee.

At the time, the ECB's head of venue partnerships Gordon Hollins said: "Edgbaston falls some way short of the ECB's facilities criteria in a number of areas which is clearly not a sustainable position if Edgbaston is to retain the right to host major matches."