A planning application has been submitted for a £25m hotel, cinema and restaurant complex on North Quay, Douglas.

The Quayside North development, one of the largest privately-funded projects the island has seen, will transform the former Lord Street bus station site, creating new leisure facilities and jobs.

Propoals include a seven-screen Omniplex cinema, an 80-bed Travelodge hotel, three restaurants, 20 flats, four retail units (or two larger ones) and a six-storey car park.

Developer Kane Ltd has announced that long-term leases have been signed with ’anchor’ tenants Travelodge and Omniplex.

If planning permission is secured, work would begin on site by the second quarter of next year.

Construction is expected to support 130 new jobs and once open, the development could create 110 jobs.

Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer described the submission of the planning application as an ’important milestone’.

* More on this story, see tomorrow’s Examiner.