A DISPUTE over plans to build hundreds of new homes on allotments in a Hampshire town is heading for the High Court in London.

Allotment holders in Eastleigh have applied for a High Court judicial review into the plans that would see three plots in the town concreted over and up to 430 homes built in their place.

Protests have already led to the town's biggest ever march.

In 2003, dozens of gardeners marched on the Civic Offices with their wheelbarrows full of petitions against the developments. The campaign to prevent the development was lost last year after the then secretary of state, Ruth Kelly MP, gave the scheme the go-ahead following a massive public inquiry into the plans.

An allotments association spokesman said: "Ruth Kelly's decision undermines the Government's stated intent in 2002 to provide better protection for allotments, to ensure that those that are necessary are not disposed of and that the future demand for allotments can be met.

An application to the High Court requesting permission to proceed with a judicial review into the case will now be heard on June 25.