McLaren Property and Life Property have been given the green light to move forward with a £35m leisure-led mixed-use development in the heart of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

North Somerset Council approved the joint venture's plans for Dolphin Square, which will see a 1960s shopping precinct replaced with a 250,000sq ft (23,226sq m) scheme. An eight-screen multiplex cinema - operated by Vue - and an Anytime Fitness health club are proposed, along with a 20-lane indoor bowling centre to be run by First Bowl.

Nando's; Prezzo; and Harvester have signed up to operate restaurants as part of the scheme, while a 112-room Premier Inn is earmarked for an adjacent site overlooking the seafront. The development is due for completion in May 2013, while work on the hotel element is set to commence in June and is poised to open in June next year.

Life Property's Simon Berry said: "Operator interest in Weston-super-Mare is strong and growing. "Following the completion of the new Grand Pier, the increase in the resident population and larger number of tourists, there is an additional £350m of spending in the town, which is reflected in the number of national operators that have already signed up."

Meanwhile, the council has also approved plans put forward for the overhaul of the former Royal Pier Hotel site in Birnbeck Road, which was damaged by fires in 2009 and 2010. Birnbeck Investments is to transform the site with a restaurant and bar; a visitor centre; and private beach huts, as well as a residential apartment block and retail units.