RESIDENTS and civic conservationists are waiting to see the revised plans for housing on a landmark former roadside pub site.

Outline permission was granted for housing on the site of the former Cock o' the North hotel, at Farewell Hall, on the A167 southern approach to Durham, late last year.

Developer Shepherd Homes bought the two-acre plot from pub/brewery group Mitchell and Butler and demolished the 1938 premises.

But its detailed application to replace it with a four-storey apartment block, containing 25 flats and a mix of 19 adjoining two and three-storey houses, was rejected by Durham City Council in June. It followed opposition from residents, concerned at the density of the development and the lack of on-site amenities.

Shepherd Homes was urged to come back with more mutually acceptable proposals.

City planning officials will put them on public display before the application is considered.

One of the objectors to the original proposals, Kenneth Osborne-Grant, of the County Durham planning watchdog, the Osborne Trust, said he hoped the new plans addressed previous concerns.

"I think city councillors certainly listened to the objections and previously gave it a fair hearing," he said.

The Durham branch of the real ale pressure group, Camra, has expressed concern at the demise of the Cock o' the North.

In the latest edition of its periodical, the Durham Drinker, branch chairman Ken Weaver warns that the loss of such "well-run and well patronised premises proves no pub is safe".