Campaigners are worried they will not be given a chance to speak out publicly against plans to take land for a controversial transport package.

People opposed to the compulsory purchase orders for the Bus Rapid Transit scheme and the expansion of the Newbridge Park and Ride site have been told by Bath and North East Somerset Council that only those who will lose land can be regarded as statutory objectors.

Others, such as neighbours of those losing land, or whose land will back onto the sites involved, have been classed as non-statutory objectors.

This will affect their rights to speak at a public inquiry into the four orders affecting nearly 60 parcels of land needed for the transport projects and may also affect possible compensation claims.

Meanwhile, Communities Secretary John Denham has admitted that his office did not take green belt issues into consideration when deciding not to call a public inquiry into the council's park-and-ride plans for Bathampton Meadows.

Statement of Case documents for each of the compulsory purchase orders for the Bath Transportation Package (BTP) were issued earlier this week by B&NES.

These say that the people who are not at risk of having their land seized, but who might still see their house values affected by the traffic work, are no longer considered statutory objectors.

This change of status means more than 100 objectors will not have an automatic right to give their views at the public inquiry into the scheme, which is planned to take place in the spring.

Jo McCarron, from the campaign group Response2Route, is one of those affected by the change and said she was now concerned about her future rights as an objector.

She said: "We are very angry because we had been told that we were statutory objectors and now we are being told we are not.

"Of course we are concerned about where this leaves us in the inquiry and how this affects our status in terms of how we can object."

The campaigners' legal advice has been that anyone whose land value could be affected by the scheme should be classed as a statutory objector, whether or not they were losing land.

The objectors have been told that it will now be down to the inquiry inspector to decide whether to let non-statutory opponents speak.

Meanwhile, campaign group VeraCityBath has received a letter from the Mr Denham admitting the Government Office of the South West made an error by not taking green belt issues into consideration when deciding not to call a public inquiry into the Bathampton Meadows scheme.

However he adds that this did not matter because that extra knowledge would not have made a difference to the decision.

VCB is fighting a legal battle and calling for a judicial review in the High Court to look into both Mr Denham's decision and B&NES Council's handling of the planning applications for the BTP.

A council spokesman said: “Statutory objectors are those who are included in the compulsory purchase order. In the council’s view these statutory objectors are having their land, interests or rights (ie rights of way) affected or acquired by the council.  Anyone not included in the compulsory purchase order is not a statutory objector because the council’s considers them not to fall into these categories.”

“Because someone received notice of the compulsory purchase order does not make them a statutory objector unless they are included in the order. “

The schemes involve taking parts of a handful of gardens at Newbridge as well as some commercial land in the area.