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An underground gas storage facility has been given the go-ahead

A £500 million project to create underground caverns to store 1% of the UK's total gas demand has been given the green light.

The natural gas storage facility will house 1,000 million cubic metres of gas underneath Portland Port in Dorset.

Dorset County Council granted planning permission for the scheme and infrastructure to transport gas to and from the National Grid's gas network today.

The project is made possible by the thick layer of Triassic rock salt (halite), 220 million years old, that lies deep under Portland.

This salt can be dissolved safely and quickly using seawater to create secure, impermeable caverns to store natural gas.

Portland Gas Storage Limited will create 14 of these 100 metre high caverns, one and a half miles underground.

Construction work will start this summer with all the storage space available for the winter of 2015.

The project is forecast to cost £500 million and will bring more than £2 million investment for local projects over the next two years as well as creating 25 permanent jobs.

Portland Gas submitted seven applications, one to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) for the pipeline, and a further six to Dorset County Council for the permanent facilities and the temporary storage areas for the pipeline during construction.

These six applications all received individual approval by the planning committee. The council also granted Hazardous Substances Consent.