Plans for the construction of a new £35m sports and fitness complex in Basildon, Essex, have been given the green light by the local authority.

Basildon Council approved proposals for the design of the Basildon Sporting Village, which has already been included as a potential pre-Games training camp for the London 2012 Olympics. The new facility is set to include a 50m competition-sized swimming pool with a moveable wall and seating for 400 spectators, a 9m x 17m learner pool, an eight badminton court-sized sports hall and a 500-station fitness suite with changing facilities and a fitness assessment and referrals room.

A gymnastics centre incorporating a specialist main hall, a training hall and changing facilities, a multi-purpose studio, meeting and function rooms and a climbing wall also feature, as well as six floodlit five-a-side football pitches and a new 750-seat athletics stand. Funding for the £35m scheme is being provided by Essex County Council, the Housing and Communities Agency, Sport England, and Veolia ES Cleanway Pitsea Marshes Trust.

Stephen Horgan, the council's cabinet member for development and regeneration, said: "This is a rare opportunity to build a world-class sporting complex that will offer all our people state-of-the-art facilities. The centre will become a sporting hub for the whole community. "This is another example of the council delivering on its regeneration plans even during these tough economic times."

Plans for the complex were initially approved in principle in April 2008, and it is hoped that it will be completed in 2010.