A Bath businessman has blasted council chiefs over a 10-year legal "shambles" which has left him at least £500,000 out of pocket and brought his company to its knees.

Terry Gratton bought the Old Coal Yard at Station Road in Newbridge for £300,000 in January 2001 after a land search to Bath and North East Somerset Council appeared to flag up no problems over future building on the site.

However, when he tried to submit a planning application for affordable housing, he was told that for the past year the land had been earmarked for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route between Newbridge and the city centre.

He initially planned to take the council to court for negligence, but was assured that the cheapest and easiest thing for him to do was to issue a blight notice forcing the authority to buy the land from him.

Mr Gratton spent £75,000 submitting a planning application for a scheme which would never be approved, so the local authority could determine how much the land was worth.

At a council meeting in October 2004, councillors agreed to put aside £625,000 to accept the blight notice and buy the land from Mr Gratton ready for when the BRT was built.

But he has still not received a penny from the council and to make matters worse the authority is threatening to send in the bailiffs for £25,000 in unpaid business rates for the land that he does not want.

Mr Gratton, whose development pedigree includes the restoration of the Royal York Hotel in George Street, said he had been financial ruined by the council.

He said: "Any reasonable person would agree that having rendered our land useless, the council would do their best to mitigate the disaster they have caused.

"They have ruined a successful local housing company and in the last ten years have made no attempt to meet us or help.

"Even today there is a refusal to meet and discuss.

"Adding insult to injury they have even sent in bailiffs to recover £25,000 business rates for land they have rendered useless.

"Conservatively speaking they have cost us £500,000 by their prevarication.

"It would be difficulty to see this bureaucracy as anything other than a shambles."

Mr Gratton said that at this stage he simply wanted to be able to sit down and speak to someone from the council so they could discuss how they could move forward.

However, he says he has not been able to speak to anyone over the phone, let along face to face.

A spokesman for the council said it was still willing to buy the land, but negotiations were ongoing because the use of the land was restricted by a covenant.

The council argues this means that housing could never be built there although it could be overridden by the need for the BRT.

He said: "The council entered into negotiation to buy the land.

"It transpired that the title to the land was subject to a restrictive covenant. Without it being resolved, it prevents the land achieving market value.

"The council has a duty to protect public funds but is and has always been willing to pay market value for the land.

"Negotiations continue with the partnership."