A LAST-MINUTE hitch has delayed a long-awaited bypass aimed at boosting business and creating jobs in a South Durham market town.

The Northern Echo understands that the £1.4m route through Crook could be put back for more than a year following difficulties with negotiations over a land deal.

Contractors working for Durham County Council were due to start on the road last week.

It will run south from a new roundabout on West Road following a former railway line to Prospect Road, making access to industrial land easier and quicker for businesses and cutting congestion in the Market Place area.

Talking about the delay, Bob Pendlebury, Crook county councillor and cabinet member for the environment, transport and sustainability, said: "This is desperately disappointing.

"It has already been postponed and now, almost at the 59th minute of the 11th hour, we have been told that we cannot start.

"The road will give access to land for industrial, commercial and housing. People bought new homes on West Road in anticipation of having a direct link with the bypass.

"Currently over 10,000 vehicles a day pass through Crook Market Place and we estimate that the bypass would reduce that by 3,000."

Residents of Snowball Close, off West Road, bought homes expecting it to become a cul-de-sac when the new road was opened.

One, who asked not to be named, said: "The council are trying to promote development and growth but this is preventing new homes being built. We currently have access to the A689 but this is due to be blocked off when the bypass opens.

"It could be as long as 2005 before things get under way and that would be a shame."

A Durham County Council spokesman said: "The start of the scheme has had to be delayed.

"This is because we have run into problems with land acquisition negotiations."