RESIDENTS living near the proposed Abbey Stadium development say their response to the controversial planning application has been severely restricted because of the delay in a letter being sent to them.

Plans for the £50 million sports, leisure and entertainment complex have been called in for a public inquiry by the Planning Inspectorate.

But a Redditch Council letter, sent to residents for comments, was only received by neighbours of the planned project just a few days before Christmas, three weeks after the six-week consultation period began.

Hither Green Lane resident Mark Blamire-Brown said he and others were angry they had received the letter so late.

He said it was difficult for residents to respond in time because of Christmas and New Year.

Mr Blamire-Brown added: "Our ability to respond has been severely restricted. Given the situation, they should have pushed the start date back three weeks."

Redditch Council's planning services manager John Staniland said: "The Government office who called in the application told us the Planning Inspectorate would contact us with details to pass on to residents. However after contacting the Inspectorate we still have not received this information.

"So we made a decision to write to residents ourselves and other interested parties as soon as we could with as much information as we had.

"I assure residents that all letters and statements previously submitted will still stand and will be passed on to the Inspectorate."

"They do not need to resubmit letters and any new letters can still be sent to the Inspectorate up until the date of the inquiry," Mr Staniland added.