It's a yes for the Brighton Eye - the 172-metre tower will be built after winning over the city's councillors.

The decision means Brighton and Hove will become home to Britain's tallest observation tower on the foreshore of the city's dilapidated West Pier.

The tower, designed by the architects of the London Eye and known as the i360, is one of three major developments which will radically transform the city's skyline.

The i360 is predicted to attract 500,000 visitors each year and boost the city's economy by an estimated £10 million as well as creating more than 100 jobs.

Members of Brighton and Hove City Council's planning board unanimously backed the project at a meeting yesterday. The decision follows shortly after the 128-metre Brighton Marina tower and the Frank Gehry development on the King Alfred site in Hove were given the green light.

Councillors, conservation groups and tourist chiefs have all backed the latest structure.

Measuring just four metres wide, it will transport visitors up to 139 metres in a gigantic enclosed pod, providing panoramic views over a 25-mile radius.

The observation height of 139 metres tops by four metres that achieved by the London Eye.

The pod, with a capacity for 125 people, will be more than nine times the size of a London Eye capsule. The operator I-Xperience hopes it will become a wedding venue.

Construction is due to start early in 2007, with completion by summer 2008.

The project will be funded by private investors.

Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council Simon Burgess said: "It is going to transform the city. The i360 will be a familiar picture postcard image - recognisable throughout the world. It will generate huge amounts of cash and benefit the city's economy all year round."

Mark Jones, chairman of Brighton and Hove Hotels Association, said the city needed to build outstanding attractions which would enable it to compete with other European destinations.

He said: "It is exhilarating to hear ideas which are not down to earth' but instead, rather like the i360 itself, reach for the stars."

The i360's creators are the husband and wife architect team behind the London Eye, David Marks and Julia Barfield.

Mr Marks says it will compete with other popular observation deck attractions including the Eiffel Tower and the London Eye, which has 22 million visitors a year and is Britain's most popular paid-for attraction.

He said: "I am just completely ecstatic. What a vote of confidence to get unanimous support."

The council received 74 letters of objection and 95 letters of support from as far afield as Germany, Japan and the Netherlands.

The South East England Development Agency, English Heritage, the Regency Society and Tourism South East were among the bodies which backed the plan. It will involve the removal of wreckage from the collapsed West Pier. The end section farthest out to sea will be kept and it is hoped might still one day be integrated into the rest of the development.

A heritage centre, containing a caf, shop and history exhibition will be built at the bottom of the tower and the original Victorian toll booth which currently houses the Rock Shop will be refurbished and relocated on the side of the centre. A second booth will be made and sited on the opposite side. One will be used as a toilet, the other will be the i360 ticket office.

The Brighton West Pier Trust, which bought the pier from the Crown Commissioners three years after it closed in 1975, once hoped the building could be repaired but storm damage and two fires resulted in the loss of the central section.

The planning application was submitted jointly with the West Pier Trust.

Chairman Glynn Jones said: "We believe that the Brighton i360, a vertical pier', is entirely in the spirit of the pier's history."

The trust's manager Rachel Clark said: "We were really in a dead end in terms of what we could do with the pier so this development is really important. We are absolutely delighted it has been approved."