MASSIVE investment is transforming Portland into the country's latest development hotspot, local leaders claimed today.

Plans for a marina, hundreds of luxury apartments, cruise liner facilities, gas storage caverns, a supermarket, yacht-building and the 2012 Olympics are raising the profile of the island to unprecedented levels.

The millions of pounds of inward investment is set to change the character of the island over the next decade.

Some fear the island's infrastructure is not good enough to cope with the influx of cash-rich developers.

Others claim Portland is developing a new identity not based on its connections with the Royal Navy.

In the next two years more than 500 luxury apartments will be built by Comer Homes in Castletown, luxury yacht-maker Sunseeker will open at Osprey Quay, a 560-berth marina is proposed nearby together with major improvements to the National Sailing Academy.

A £350 million scheme for gas storage caverns, a £20 million Tesco supermarket and housing development, and plans for more cruise ships and ferries to operate from Portland Port are all in the pipeline.

Dorset County and Wey-mouth and Portland Borough councillor Les Ames said: "The inward investment is staggering and I think there is a great future for the island.

"All the hard work is finally starting to pay off.

"But we have to be careful that the future is planned carefully and I would like to see a town council with real powers have a bigger say on planning issues. We need a new road to Tophill from Underhill, more care for the environment and the 500 acres of disused quarries put to public use."

Southwell Park, which provides employment space for 500 people, is due to open a new swimming pool next week, and conference and fitness centres later this year.

Ray Bulpit, managing director of Southwell, said: "The island has got a tremendous future.

"But I think if people try to get too much control over development it will never happen. You have got to let investment in and it has to be market-led.

"The infrastructure could be better. It would be very useful if we had a continuation of the Chickerell relief road to Ferrybridge."

Andrew Harvey, director at estate agents Hull Gregson and Hull, said property prices had increased fivefold since 2000.

"I think over the last couple of years Portland has been creating its own identity free of the Royal Navy.

"I get the impression that people are now living here because they want to, not just for the sake of it.

"It is becoming more known by people in the rest of the country who appreciate its pleasant but rugged qualities.

"But we have to make sure that local people are not priced out of the area.

"Places like Easton have the potential once the supermarket is built to become quite exclusive, but I don't think the infrastructure is in place for it to rival Sandbanks just yet."