After a few weeks of uncertainty, a planned development that will give the city of Lisburn its first hotel has been approved.

Speaking after the city council gave the go-ahead Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the development was an "excellent message about Lisburn" which would provide a much-needed tourism amenity for the city and the surrounding area.

The lack of a hotel has been a constant source of embarrassment to Lisburn since it had city status conferred on it, but now, a 60-bedroom Premier Inn hotel from the UK's largest hotel group, Whitbread Plc, will be built at a parkland site off the Hillsborough Road.

-- Advertisement --

Site owner and developer is the Conway Group whose spokesman Des Taggart said: "We're delighted to have achieved the final stage of planning and that we can now move on site to start work on this much needed hotel for Lisburn.

"The hotel should be complete within 12 months and ready to open to the public in spring 2009.

"The development will create an excellent new tourism amenity with a Premier Inn hotel and Brewers Fayre restaurant in a beautiful setting beside the River Lagan amenity that will be great for tourists and the local population in Lisburn."

The £10m investment would create some 60 full and part-time jobs and it is expected the hotel will attract thousands of visitors.

(BMcC)