EXMOOR National Park Authority has blamed a computer glitch for the disappearance of five objections against a planning application lodged by the brother of the chairman of the authority's planning committee.

The letters opposing Richard Webber's bid for permission to carry out a large-scale redevelopment of his farming and livestock ID business Shearwell Data at Putham Farm, Cutcombe, vanished from the authority's website over the weekend.

But while a data fault was blamed for the temporary disappearance of the correspondence, Cutcombe resident Robert Erskine claimed it was yet another embarrassment for the authority.

He has now lodged a formal complaint over the issue as Mr Webber is the brother of the authority's planning committee chairman Cllr Roger Webber, who is also the chairman of Cutcombe Parish Council.

He claimed the disappearance of both his own and his wife Karen's letters of objection, together with three others, amounted to a blatant attempt to influence public opinion and to avoid adverse comments on the application.

Mr Erskine's claims have been strongly denied by the authority which said the error was quickly rectified and the missing letters reinstated on the authority's website on Monday.

The authority also stressed that the temporary disappearance of the letters online would have no bearing on the final decision on whether Mr Webber's application should be given planning permission.

Mr Webber wants to completely revamp Putham Farm and has submitted plans which would see a new access road, the replacement of existing buildings with offices and research facilities, the creation of light industrial workspace and the development of new agricultural buildings elsewhere on the site.

A spokesman for the park authority said: "There was a simple data-inputting fault within the computer system over the weekend.

"This resulted in some consultee responses that had been available to view online the week before no longer being visible on the website.

"This was quickly rectified on Monday and will have no bearing on the decision-making process."

But Mr Erskine was adamant there was more to it: "The little publicised planned development of giant industrial and agricultural units at Putham Farm has seen wide local debate and disquiet due to the scale and intrusion of the development.

"Now the removal of thought-provoking residents' comment letters from the Exmoor National Park Authority website . . . has led to a formal complaint."

The glitch could not have come at a worse time for the authority, which only two months ago was forced to issue advice to its members when it narrowly avoided a potentially damaging mistake, again involving Cllr Roger Webber and fellow park member Cllr Ian Rigby.

Although both men were fully cleared of knowingly breaking any rules, park members were warned to keep a close eye on planning lists.

It followed an application from Cllr Webber's and Cllr Rigby's nephew to build a home on land owned by Cllr Webber.

The application should automatically have gone before the full planning committee because of the close family ties but was mistakenly earmarked for a decision by officers.

The application form itself had stated the applicant had no link to any member of the authority but then indicated the land in question was owned by Cllr Webber.

The mistake was picked up by the pressure group Exmoor Uprising and the application was subsequently approved by the planning committee after being removed from the 'delegated decisions' list.

Mr Webber's current application will also have to go before the full planning committee, both because of his family links and also because of the scale of the development.

He says the work is essential to the future well-being of the business and, ultimately, the economic prosperity of the area.

Shearwell Data is now one of the leading suppliers of ear tags for livestock worldwide and also provides a back-up farm software system.

The business currently employs 50 full time and ten part time staff, although that could double over the next ten years if the planning application is successful.

In a statement to the authority, Mr Webber's agent said: "The operation of the business on the site has now reached a critical point in terms of there being inadequate floor space to support the future growth of the business, which is anticipated to see it generating a further 50 full-time jobs over the course of the next ten years.

"Thirty of those jobs are expected to be generated over the next 18 months.

"The agricultural element of the site is used to support Richard Webber's farming business, which is running closely with Shearwell by trialing new equipment and holding demonstrations.

"Richard Webber is the managing director of Shearwell Data Ltd.

"The close relationship between the farming business and Shearwell at the site is fundamental to the future growth and ongoing success of Shearwell."

The agents said the new access road would improve traffic flow in Wheddon Cross, although conceded the development would lead to 50 more employee car movements a day, plus ten extra lorry deliveries a week.

But they were confident the proposals would not have an adverse impact on neighbours or the surrounding countryside due to the design and positioning of the replacement and new buildings.

"Considering the economic profile of the Exmoor National Park and the threat that further loss of working aged or skilled population poses to the the area, together with employment growth forecasts, the proposal is anticipated to deliver a moderately significant positive impact to the economic well-being of the local area.

"The proposals in the application are fundamental to the sustainability and growth of the business," the statement said.

The agents said they believed they had the support of Cutcombe Parish Council and local people - although seven letters of objection have so far been lodged against the application by local people.

They claim the development will create an industrial park on a greenfield site, the majority of workers are not local to Exmoor and they believe the business should be forced to relocate to a more suitable site.

They also claim the authority has a duty to protect Exmoor from large-scale building developments.