The £25m redevelopment of Lord Street has been given the go-ahead by planners.

Submitted by Manx developers Kane Limited, the plans include a hotel, 20 flats, cafes, restaurant, multiplex cinema and multi-storey car park as well as a new bus terminal for the capital.

The site has been empty since the former bus station was torn down in 2002 and since then it has been used as a car park as numerous proposals for development came and went.

The plans for this development first became public knowledge last year when an American-based real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) advertised units to let in the development, called ’Quayside North’.

An appeal process of three weeks will now follow the approval.

It is not certain when work is likely to begin, but it must begin within four years of today’s approval.

For more information, see tomorrow’s Examiner.