Selby MP John Grogan today relaunched a campaign for a new cinema in the town.

He said that with all the recently-announced new housing developments in the area, Selby now warranted a cinema.

He said: "Despite all the sceptics, a new cinema is top of the agenda whenever I speak to college or school students about local leisure facilities.

"There are some huge new housing schemes being planned, involving thousands of houses. The population of Selby is continuing to expand, making a cinema more viable.

"The new Selby bypass should be up and running in just over a year. That, too, has helped to attract the likes of McDonalds and Homebase, so it isn't too big a step to start thinking about a new cinema, possibly on the Bawtry Road site.

"I believe it would be quite an attractive proposition for one of the major cinema chains. There is a large catchment area when you consider that the nearest cinemas are in York, Leeds, Doncaster and Hull."

Mr Grogan said that the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, had selected Selby as one of the market towns it wanted to regenerate, and a cinema project could be included as part of the regeneration scheme.

He said: "Yorkshire Forward will be setting up a special regeneration team in Selby in the new year and I will be urging them to progress the idea of a new cinema."

Selby has not had a cinema since the Ritz burned down in 1983, and Mr Grogan says he has received numerous letters of support from constituents.

Selby town councillor Jude Thurlow, who worked as a projectionist at the old Hippodrome cinema, in Millgate, Selby, said he would welcome the return of the silver screen.

He said: "If you rely on public transport, it's impossible to have a night out at the cinema in York or Leeds because you can't get a bus or train back late at night.

"The town is crying out for a cinema showing the latest big films."

Updated: 15:28 Friday, December 20, 2002