MacDonald Hotels is to develop a business, conference and leisure park on the 55 acre site of its Inchyra Hotel in the Grangemouth area, Scotland.

The group has lodged a planning application with Falkirk Council for the £40m scheme, which proposes an 120-room aparthotel, an extension to the Inchyra Hotel and a new bedroom wing, a leisure club, 10,00sq ft of retail space and a conference and business centre. The development will take place over a five year period and has the potential to create more than 1,000 jobs for the area, which suffered from substantial job losses in recent months.

The application also includes proposals for the enhancement and management of nearby woodland areas.

'This will be a state of the art facility and we are confident it will attract significant interest from the business sector. Our application addresses the council's structure plan local plan policies,' said Deputy chief executive of Macdonald Hotels, Gerry Smith.