Two towering funfair rides will be built on the Palace Pier in Brighton after John Prescott overruled the city council.

The Noble Organisation, which owns the pier, has been given permission to replace the existing Ventura and Ranger attractions with two 40-metre booster rides.

Brighton and Hove City Council originally refused planning permission but Government inspector Katie Peerless yesterday ruled that was unfair.

Deputy Prime Minister Mr Prescott followed her recommendation and approved Noble's appeal, although the decision probably comes too late to allow the rides to open for this summer season.

Council planning officers had argued the proposed rides were too tall.

The highest of the existing rides is the Enterprise, which reaches a maximum of 22.7 metres.

Noble argued its current rides were past their sell-by-dates and new, more exciting attractions were needed to keep the pier viable.

Chartered surveyor Peter Gwilliam, for Noble, told last November's appeal hearing revenues had been falling since the financial year 2000/01 because the rides' popularity was waning.

The two booster rides would be installed either side of a 35-metre Megadrop ride, which already has planning permission but has not yet been built.

The rides would each consist of a rotating skeletal arm carrying people at either end.

The Megadrop would lift people on a platform to the top of a thirty-metre tower and then release it, dropping them at speed.

A planning inspector backed Noble after a 1999 public inquiry which overturned councillors' refusal of permission for 12 fairground rides, including a rollercoaster.

Noble director David Biesterfield said: "It's a source of huge regret that every time we want to make an improvement to our pier we find ourselves refused by the council and have to fight expensive planning appeals."

The council has been ordered to pay part of Noble's costs after the inspector found the authority had been unreasonable in making a decision before considering all the financial implications.