Protesters fear the development will spoil the area

Councillors voted in favour of plans to build a four-star hotel, refurbished theatre and World Heritage visitor centre at the site on Thursday evening.

Developers, Howard Holdings, said they were now proceeding with a detailed planning application for the scheme.

But hundreds of protesters, who are angry the complex will spoil the area, said they will fight against the plans.

'Fantastic opportunity'

Marian Pullen from protest group Our Weymouth, told BBC News: "We're not going to give up yet - there's a long way to go.

"We're fighting to have no marina because we believe it will have a drastic effect on the beach and we'll be fighting for a hugely reduced number of flats."

Of the 28 councillors at Weymouth and Portland Borough Council present at the meeting, 20 voted in favour of the plans.

Martin Jepson, of Howard Holdings, said: "It's a fantastic opportunity to regenerate an area which is in need of regeneration.

"There's a lot of obstacles that we have to still overcome to prove that we're coming up with a sustainable scheme for this site."