Plans for a major regeneration project in Brighton have been given the green light.

The project will develop hundreds of homes and also create new construction jobs.

The planning committee agreed the Public-Private Partnership scheme by Cathedral (Brighton) Ltd, the University of Brighton and the city council to transform the one–hectare site off Circus Street.

The former municipal fruit and veg market would become a mixed-use scheme and 'innovation quarter', expected to create 400 jobs and inject £200m into the city's economy over the next 10 years.

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Permission also includes 142 new homes, 205 of which would be affordable.

New teaching and research facilities would be created for the University of Brighton, including a new library; while pressure would be taken off the city's family homes by the inclusion of 450 units of student accommodation, officials have said.

Alongside will be a new dance studio for South East Dance, expected to attract 70,000 visitors and users a year.

Workspaces would be aimed at start-up businesses, artists and larger companies. A modern office building, including more than 3,000 sq m of flexible space, would help growing creative and digital businesses remain and flourish in the city.

Permission includes restaurants or shops at ground floor level, around a new public square. Cathedral are also promising a "new genre" of urban development with green walls, green roofs, 78 new trees and allotments for food growing.

Developers have agreed to pay £250,000 to improve local transport and recreation provision and to use at least 20 per cent local labour for construction.

(CD/JP)