A LONG-awaited multiplex cinema could finally be built in Scarborough after councillors backed plans for the North Bay development.

The borough council’s planning committee approved the application for the six-screen attraction on the site of the former Atlantis water park. It is the third time the scheme has been given planning permission, but the committee was told it was now “ready to go”.

Jake Stentiford, the agent for the developer, Benchmark Leisure, said the approval was “all that was needed” before work could finally begin on the cinema.

He added the previous schemes had fallen through due to changes in the restaurant market, but that operators were now signed up and the scheme was ready to be built.

The scheme is for a six-screen cinema with 53 apartments, a gym, sky bar, five restaurants and five retail units. There would be 71 car parking spaces, with 12 reserved for staff of the businesses.