AN 11th hour objection has delayed the start of a £5m bypass that could cut congestion and open up industrial land.

A public inquiry will decide the future of the 1.5-mile route taking traffic from West Auckland, St Helen Auckland and Tindale Crescent.

Preliminary works due to begin in summer will not be able to start until early next year, depending on the result of the inquiry.

The Government Office for the North-East ordered the hearing, scheduled for July 13 in West Auckland.

The objection is from the new owners of a property in Darlington Road, West Auckland, who were not aware of the plan despite a land search.

Many residents had backed the development when they were consulted in 2002, agreeing at a public meeting that the scheme was needed.

It would link the western end of a route completed in 1998, next to the St Helen Industrial Estate, with the A688 near Oakley Service Station, crossing the A68 at a roundabout near Hummerbeck.

Durham county councillor Sonny Douthwaite, who represents the area and also chairs Durham's highways committee, said he was disappointed by the setback.

He said: "We have waited for this for a long time and we thought we were almost ready to start.

"The bypass has been known about for 50 years at least. It is in the Local Plan and we can't understand how this has happened.

"The biggest disappointment is that the A688 is one of the busiest roads in the country, with a lot of heavy wagons and buses using it as a cross- country route.

"It would open up land for industry and give the people of St Helen's and West Auckland a cleaner, safer environment."

A county council spokes-man said: "There has been an objection from some owners of an adjacent property. Government Office North-East are of the opinion that it justifies being considered at a public inquiry.

"Now work cannot start until next spring, at the earliest, providing the objection is turned down."