RESIDENTS campaigning against a planned housing development in Hurworth are concerned their objection letters have gone missing.

More than 90 objection letters to the 100-home development by Banks Group have not been uploaded to the council website despite some having being posted or submitted over a month ago.

The deadline for comments on the Roundhill Road scheme was yesterday.

Carol Paylor, of the Hurworth Against Detrimental Development (HADD) campaign group, said: “I am aware of over 90 objection letters sent since September 19 that have not been uploaded to the Council’s planning site or acknowledged. Residents are worried their objections are going astray.”

But the council said it was still working through the letters and emails.

Ms Paylor said more than 600 residents had voted for each of the HADD candidates in the local elections this year, each of whom stood on the issue of over-development.

She added: “It is reasonable to assume Darlington Borough Council has been deluged with objection letters. I want to support DBC and I’m offering a day of my time next week to help the planning department if they are short-staffed.”

A spokeswoman for the council said: “Residents can rest assured that we are working through the responses to this application. However, due to the high volume – more than 200 – it is taking time to process them and upload to our website. We estimate that this should be completed by early next week.” She added everyone would be invited to the planning meeting to determine the matter.