A NEW Vale of Mowbray pie factory could be up and running at Leeming Bar before the end of next year after plans were approved by Hambleton councillors.

The 134-year-old former brewery buildings that previously housed the factory in Leases Road were destroyed by fire four months ago but the company has managed to maintain about 80 per cent production at its two other manufacturing sites on the nearby industrial estate.

The Leases Road site has been cleared of fire-damaged buildings but unaffected ones have continued to be used for distributing products and offices have been housed in portable cabins.

A replacement factory on the site was approved by Hambleton development control committee before Christmas with 14 conditions attached and subject to the successful resolution of four outstanding questions involving design details, off-road waiting, turning space for vehicles and drainage arrangements.

The firm's managing director John Gatenby said: "We are clearly in the hands of the builders but, subject to a successful contract, we would be looking possibly at October next year to have a new factory up and running. The production side will go up first and the offices at a later date."

He said that the firm had suffered this Christmas: "We have lost two special Christmas pie lines because of the fire and this represents quite large business which we have to try to recover next year."