AN ART Deco cinema could be saved under a £30m investment scheme which will also see a new 40-bedroom hotel coming to Redcar.

The proposed scheme includes a revamp of the Regent Cinema, which sits on the sea front, the hotel on the Coatham area and other schemes across the east Cleveland area, including a revamp of Loftus High Street.

The 'Revitalising Redcar' strategy will secure the future of the town’s much-loved Regent Cinema on the seafront which had to be closed for safety reasons last April.

The building was closed after structural and building surveys and many aspects of the fabric of the building have deteriorated including the roof and external walls. It is proposed that a cinema is delivered on the current site, with a complete revamp of the inside planned, and the structure made sound.

The Coatham area developments would include the hotel on the site of the old Redcar Bowl Leisure Centre, indoor leisure facilities and a car park.

Other funding will be used to support a bid for the Government’s Future High Street Fund to revitalise Loftus High Street. Over the next five years it will also deliver a range of projects including extending high street support schemes in Eston, Saltburn, Guisborough, Redcar and Loftus, supporting businesses to take on more apprentices, investing in key industrial sites and improving the tourist offer.

More funds will be made available to help a community-led scheme to improve grade II-listed Guisborough Town Hall. All the plans will be discussed at a council meeting on March 5.

Councillor Sue Jeffrey, Leader of the Council, said: “These are enormously exciting plans. We promised we would secure the future of The Regent – and now we’re going to deliver. We promised we would attract investment in Coatham and improve our tourism and leisure offer across the borough - and we’re delivering on that too. I would like to say a big thank you to residents who have been so patient with us while we have been working to make this announcement.

"I hope we are now going to be able to move quickly to bring back our cinema and get building on the Coatham site.

“We have a thriving tourism economy and have seen visitor numbers rise again this year but we need more overnight accommodation so that people stay longer in our borough.

"We will also be putting Loftus forward for funding from the Future High Streets programme. We are already investing in the town and working with residents to revitalise the centre."