PLANS to rebuild the Vale of Mowbray pie factory, destroyed by fire in August, have been submitted to Hambleton Council.

A draft report to the development control committee on December 19 recommends approval of the scheme, which includes a production plant and offices on the site of the former factory at Leeming Bar.

A spokesman for the council's planning department said the new factory would be about 10 metres high and further back towards the railway line than the former plant.

The parish council supports the proposals, which have so far attracted no objections.

John Gatenby, the company's managing director, confirmed the plans had been submitted but did not wish to comment ahead of the meeting.

Following the devastating Saturday morning blaze at the old factory, a Victorian former brewery building, production of pork pies and sausages was switched to the firm's other premises on the town's industrial estate.

Manufacturing re-started within a week of the fire and there were no job losses.

There were no injuries in the fire, which was believed to have started in a gas oven.

At its height, the blaze was tackled by 120 firefighters from across North Yorkshire.