Architect Frank Gehry's controversial vision for Brighton and Hove has won a crucial decision which will allow developers to push ahead with their plans.

Brighton and Hove City Council last night decided proposals for a £220 million leisure and homes complex at the King Alfred site in Kingsway, Hove, did meet the tough planning conditions it had laid down as land-owner.

The decision paves the way for Karis, the developer behind the scheme, to submit its first planning application and brings the £48 million sports centre and 754 Frank Gehry-designed flats a step closer to becoming reality.

Council leader Ken Bodfish said the decision was an "historic and important day for the city".

Deputy leader Sue John said: "This is a significant day and I'm confident we are going to see a first-class sports centre built in our city. In taking this decision Brighton and Hove just moved up a league."

The new King Alfred centre would become the first Frank Gehry project to be built in England. The flats would be built in two towers about 75m and 60m high, surrounded by eight lower blocks of up to 11 storeys.

Of these, 474 would be sold on the private market and 280, or 37 per cent, would be affordable - a mix of rented and shared ownership.

The sports centre would include a 200sqm teaching pool, a 250sqm leisure pool and a 440sqm competition pool, which together would provide 31 per cent more swimming area than the existing King Alfred centre, which was built in the Thirties.

In addition, the main sports hall offers 80 per cent more space than the existing one and the proposed health and fitness facility, split over two floors, offers five times more space. The health suite would comprise four consultation rooms, a spa bath, steam room, sauna, hydrotherapy pool and workout studio.

However, before a brick can be laid, the project must first win the approval of the council's planning committee.

Karis is expected to deliver its formal planning application, consisting of hundreds of reports and drawings, to Hove Town Hall on Thursday.

It is likely to take the council's planning officers six months to study the application and make a recommendation.

Members of the all-party planning committee would then have the final say.

If planning consent is given, construction on the project could begin in January 2007 with a completion date of January 2010 set for the sports centre and January 2012 for the rest of the development.

Yesterday's decision of the policy and resources committee came down to the wire and council officers were involved in negotiations until almost the moment the meeting began at 4.30pm.

When the vote came, the scheme was backed by six Labour councillors, two Greens and one Liberal Democrat. The six Conservative members voted against.

Conservative leader Garry Peltzer Dunn said council officers admitted several elements of the scheme did not fully comply with the council's brief.

He called the plans a disgraceful over-development of the site and said: "We remain totally committed to opposing the scheme in its present form and will take every opportunity to oppose it in the future.

"The sports facilities on offer are exciting but I do not believe the price the neighbourhood would have to pay is one the council should approve and one residents should have to suffer."

The Greens' support was secured with Labour's agreement to back three amendments.

These require the council to earmark £1 million for sustainable seafront transport to ensure the thousands of expected visitors will be able travel to and from the sports centre without the surrounding roads grounding to a halt; an improvement in renewable energy generation on the site, provision for composting and an increase in water recycling; and a request for the planning committee to note the outcome of a study into the likely impact of the development on local infrastructure.

Green convenor Keith Taylor, who had voted against the scheme at the last policy and resources meeting in June, said: "This is a modern classic building with unrivalled sports facilities and housing. It's a question of balance and ultimately it is up to the planning committee decide whether the balance is acceptable."

Lib Dem Dawn Davidson said: "I have reservations about many aspects of the scheme but it will receive further study by the council as planning authority, which will be able to give the scheme the level of scrutiny it requires."

Opponents of the scheme, a handful of whom staged a protest outside Hove Town Hall before the meeting began, heckled the councillors from the public gallery and one held a banner over the balcony reading: "It's not green, it's Krass" before he was escorted away by security officers.

Josh Arghiros, managing director of Karis, said: "Of course we are delighted by the decision. We can now get on with the job of showing the people of Brighton and Hove the reality and truth of this amazing project.

"People no longer have to listen to the lies and misinformation spouted by a small group of regressionists who have never even seen the scheme. Everyone can now visit the public exhibition and see for themselves and make up their own minds."

The Regency society, a Brighton conservation group, said it would be objecting to the number of flats and mass of the scheme when it reached planning stages. Yesterday a new model and the latest designs of the project were unveiled at a private launch organised by Karis at the Jubilee Library.

The plans will be on public display from today and the exhibition will move to Hove Town Hall on October 31.