Both Croudace and Kember Loudon Williams, the developers behind Church Fields and Monksmoor respectively, have appealed against the West Northamptonshire Develop-ment Corporation after a ‘holding direction’ was made by the Highways Agency.

The applications will now be decided through government planning inquiries, rather than the decision lying with a local authority.

The two developments are proposed for land adjacent to Daventry Country Park, with Monksmoor’s 1,000 homes set to run along Welton Lane, and Church Fields’ 4,000 homes along the Long Buckby Road. They also include schools, doctors’ surgeries, shops, community centres and other facilities.

Croudace made its application to the WNDC in January last year, while Kember Loudon Williams submitted its in June last year.

The two schemes join the Danetree Village proposal for 5,150 homes on the eastern slopes of Borough Hill, which went to appeal in April. It now means none of the decisions over the planned doubling in size of Daventry will be made locally.

Chris Millar, leader of DDC and a member of the WNDC board, said: “As far as I can see this highways objection could apply to all major developments in Daventry.

“We want to see these determined as locally as possible, and there could be more applications to follow – this is a very unsatisfactory position.

“To have the highways authority do this at such a late stage is not very democratic.

“It might however be helpful for the planning inspector to have all three applications to make a holistic decision on them all.”

Roger Mendonca, the WNDC’s deputy chief executive, said: “The WNDC has set out a clear timetable for the local determination of both planning applications.

“The WNDC remains committed to working with the developers, the Highways Agency, and the community to secure the best development for Daventry.”

All three applications now at appeal, which were drawn up to meet the Government’s expansion targets for the town, are likely to be decided on by the Secretary of State following planning inquiries.

Bob Meek, from Kember Loudon Williams, said: “We thought things were going well, but a problem arose and we felt obliged to go to appeal, but beyond that I would not want to comment.”

Martin Harrop, special projects manager at Croudace, said: “We’ve been awaiting a decision since January 2007. There’s not been a decision and we’re mindful of what’s going on with the other applications.”

It is expected that Daventry District Council and the WNDC, along with parish councils, will make submissions to the Planning Inspectorate by the end of the year, with decisions likely to be made sometime next year.

Samantha Webb is chairman of the Friends of Daventry Country Park, a member of Daventry Town Council, and a founder of Opposition Church Fields. She said: “I just hope the inspectorate looks at Daventry sympathetically.

“There’s a lot of people in this town that want a say on what’s going on.