A £500m regeneration project for Inverness has been given the green light by Highland Council.

The huge mixed-used development contains a strong leisure element - with cafés, two hotels, restaurants, bars, a leisure centre and indoor and outdoor sports facilities all included in the plans.

The project is the brainchild of developers Inverness Estates. Inverness Estates property developer Mark Shaw said: "A project of this magnitude is bound to attract some concern but I am very pleased that the council and the vast majority in the wider community have appreciated the huge benefits that this will bring to the Inverness area.

"It has been a long and often arduous road to get to even this stage but we have always believed in the project and our commitment to it has never wavered.

"The economic and social benefits that this development can deliver will be especially important at a time when the impact of the recession is still being felt hard, major public sector cutbacks are round the corner and many jobs will simply disappear."