The application, which includes two championship golf courses, a five-star hotel, a golf academy, almost 1,000 holiday homes and 500 private houses, had previously been thrown out by the Scottish council.
Aberdeenshire councillors yesterday gave the US property developer's proposals their “full support” at a special meeting that sacked the chair of the council's infrastructure services committee.
A motion of no confidence in Councillor Martin Ford, who had used his casting vote to block the plans, was passed by 26 votes to 10, with 29 councillors abstaining.
Despite the council's U-turn, however, the final decision will lie with Scottish cabinet secretary, John Swinney. The Scottish government said last week it was intervening because the project was too important to be dealt with by a local council.
