Plans for a new hotel on the southern outskirts of Belfast have been hailed as "very welcome" by a local MP.

Details of the proposed £5m hotel and restaurant complex in Carryduff were revealed this week and are expected to stimulate scores of new jobs.

Strangford MP Iris Robinson - whose constituency covers the area - welcomed the proposed development.

"This investment is another indication of the strength of Northern Ireland as a tourist destination and a location for new hotel development and investment. The local jobs which would be created are also very welcome."

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A detailed planning application for a 60-bedroom hotel and 200-seat restaurant at Brackenvale on the Saintfield Road has been submitted.

The developers are Merit Investments and Properties, a subsidiary company of Conway Group from Magherafelt.

Jarlath Conway of Conway Group revealed the project could create up to 60 full and part-time jobs when completed as well as providing work for the construction sector during the building phase.

The company has won the support of the UK's leading hotel and leisure group, Whitbread, operators of the Premier Inn chain.

Mark Adams, the Northern Ireland Acquisitions manager for Whitbread, said the Northern Ireland market provided the company with an attractive marketplace in which to expand.

Premier Inn currently has four hotels operating in Northern Ireland, with a fifth due to open at Hillsborough Road in Lisburn in September.

(BMcC/JM)