Records of residents' objections to the closure of a well-used footpath have been misplaced, which means they will have to register their objections all over again.

Residents in Sowerby, near Thirsk, have been campaigning for nearly five years to have the Three Tuns path from the Market Place to the Flatts reopened.

But North Yorkshire County Council may have misplaced the 69 letters of objection and a petition.

County Councillor Jan Marshall told Sowerby Parish Council that the authority had no record of the documents. Councillor David Murkett said: "If the county can lose something as important as this, what else is likely to get lost? It really does dismay me. We had a wealth of objections to the closure - a figure of 300 was mentioned. Since the matter raised its head again due to new development, I have been telling people that they need not write in again as their objections were on file. Now I discover that they are not. I feel very aggrieved about this."

The footpath came to prominence when developers sought planning permission for land off Chapel Street, which meant a wall being built across the end of the alleged footpath.

Since then, Thirsk and Sowerby councils have pressed for the footpath to be included on a definitive map.

The county footpaths officer has been brought in and evidence is being collected to prove a case for established use. The county council will make a decision at a meeting on March 10.