COUNCILLORS have approved plans to build 74 flats on the site of a former tyre recycling business.

Hartlepool Borough Council's planning committee granted Niramax permission to convert the site in Mainsforth Terrace, Hartlepool, at a meeting on Wednesday.

The two-bedroomed apartments will be built in five three and four-storey blocks. The council received no objections to the scheme, which includes 105 parking spaces.

The developer has agreed to pay £51,250 towards housing renewal schemes in the town and to provide play facilities.

Niramax Recycling Ltd was fined £10,000 last month for storing and shredding tyres at the site without a licence. The company has since moved and has cleared the site in preparation for the flats development.