A new University Technical College specialising in engineering and computer science has been given the go-ahead for north Kent.

Dartford councillors voted unanimously for the multi-million pound Leigh UTC, for up to 600 students, to be built on the site of the old Joyce Green Hospital to the north of Bob Dunn Way, Dartford, near The Bridge housing estate.

Members passed the application at a meeting last night, but said they would like the developers to see if a few more parking spaces could be incorporated into the final build.

The three-story building is expected to be open by September 2014 in time for the start of the new school year. It will create 50 full-time jobs.

Special attention has been paid to creating an energy-efficient school, with solar panels, and improved insulation with an air-tight build.

The plans include 50 parking spaces - although this could now rise - including three for disabled drivers, and room for 30 bicycles.

It is also near a Fastrack bus stop with links to Dartford town centre, Greenhithe and Bluewater.

The college is marketed as a radical solution to increasing the number of technicians and engineers in the country and works in a different way to schools.

This year, the government has approved 13 other UTCs across the country, bringing the total to 45, although some have yet to be built.

Students are aged 14 to 18. Their day starts at 8.30am and finishes at 5pm – but there is no homework.

The school year is 40 weeks long, with either four or five terms, adding the equivalent of a whole extra year of instruction for every two years a pupil is in the UTC as opposed to a normal school or college.

Pupils spend the equivalent of two days a week on practical work and three days a week on academic study.

Leigh UTC will also open up its facilities to the community to use in the evenings, including the hall, gym, dining hall and other spaces.

The engineering workshops will be available for adult education classes.

The college will be run by the Leigh Academies Trust which already oversees the Leigh Technology Academy in Dartford, York Road Junior Academy and Language Unit in Dartford, Wilmington Academy, the Milestone Academy in New Ash Green for pupils with special needs and Longfield Academy.