THE site of a burnt-down pub is to be regenerated with 24 new homes.

Borough councillors have approved a scheme to revitalise the grounds of the former Strawberry pub in Chester Road, Whitby.

They gave Wainhomes Developments Ltd permission to build 12 twobedroomed apartments, a one-bedroomed apartment and 11 town houses there.

The Strawberry was demolished in 2004 after a devastating fire in May of that year from which landlord Steve Edmunds escaped with his life.

Now, despite some concerns from neighbours, mainly about the access and traffic flow, the site is going to be used once more.

The 24 homes will consist of five blocks of mixed design.

Three of them will be a mix of two, two-and-a-half and three storeys, and built so as to curve alongside the roundabout frontage.

The remaining two blocks will be two and two-and-ahalf-storeys tall and arranged around a central cul-de-sac on the 0.64 hectare site.

The Strawberry pub blaze went down in local history as one of the biggest fires in Ellesmere Port for years. On May 12, 2004, it burned to the ground.