A MULTI-million-pound leisure complex planned for the former Bournemouth bus station site could be revived if the economy picks up.

Long-standing plans for the Exeter Road car park were shelved when the economic downturn took hold.

It appeared the £55 million West Central scheme, which includes 17 restaurants and a nine-screen cinema, was dead in the water.

But developers Licet Holdings Ltd are refusing to give up on the project.

Instead, they have applied for an extension to their planning permission to give them another three years to start work on the scheme.

Chris Dymond, a director of Licet Holdings, said: “The market conditions are improving and we want to keep the planning consent alive so that if the market improves further we can look at relaunching it.

“It’s just protecting that position.”

Initially, the scheme was delayed because it took longer than anticipated to sign up enough tenants for the five-story building.

But before the recession hit, Licet was planning to start work in 2009 and complete later this year.

Mr Dymond said: “The value of the completed investment went down so far and this, together with the difficulty in borrowing money for construction, meant it just wasn’t feasibly going to happen.

“But all the parties involved still believe it’s a good scheme for the site.

“And it’s much easier to renew planning permission now than it used to be so that’s what we’re doing.

“Hopefully then if market conditions get better, we will have a better chance of resurrecting it.”