WORK has begun on a new £7.5 million hotel at Monks Cross retail park.

An 80-bedroom Travelodge, with a bar and restaurant, will open off Monks Cross Drive, near the Pear Tree Farm pub and opposite the Alpha Office Park.

The three-storey hotel could create up to 25 new jobs according to a spokesman for Travelodge.

Max Reeves, director of The Helmsley Group which is managing the project, said: “We are on site now and the development is due to finish in mid-November.

“There are a mix of hotels and this one will be aimed at helping businesses in the area.

“This major development for Monks Cross adds another facility to the already extensive range of facilities available for local businesses on the estate. It is another ringing endorsement for York as a city that Travelodge are making another significant financial investment into the city.”

The applicants predict that more than 38,000 guests will stay at the hotel per year and planning documents say that if every guest spent between £10 and £20 in York during their stay, up to £766,500 could be generated for the city’s economy.

The application says: “This creates a situation whereby other local businesses benefit directly from the future guests of the proposed hotel utilising their services and facilities.”

There are also plans for 80 parking spaces on the 4,870 sq m site, which is currently used as an unsurfaced car park. The project is due to be completed by the middle of November.

Great crested newts, a protected species, are found to the east of the site and planning documents say “newt fencing” must be installed to avoid any of the creatures being harmed while construction work takes place.

The hotel will be operated by Travelodge, and will be the company’s sixth locally and follows the opening of its Layerthorpe hotel in August 2017.