Expert doubtful on timetable for new allotments space

SCORES of Eastleigh allotment gardeners having to quit their plots to make way for a housing development could be left leaning on their spades, a inquiry has heard.

Civic chiefs had hoped that the new Lakeside allotments, which have been swamped with massive drainage problems, would be available this autumn.

However, at a public inquiry yesterday into plans for hundreds of homes on allotments plots a soil expert cast doubts over whether the council could meet that target.

Lakeside is one of five sites being offered to the town's allotment gardeners, who are being moved from their South Street and Monks Way plots to make way for hundreds of homes.

Professor Gordon Spoor, one of the country's leading authorities on soil quality, was giving evidence on behalf of the Eastleigh and Bishopstoke Allotments Co-operative Association.

Giving the findings of his investigations, he said: "None of the new sites will be of the same high quality as the current Monks Way and South Street sites even when their full potential is reached."

He said that currently only two of the newly-created alternatives sites - Broom Hill and Eagle Close - were suitable for allotment development.

Professor Spoor said: "Even after this dry winter, the Lakeside, Chestnut Avenue and new Monks Way sites are largely water-logged and have been for most of the winter."

He also had serious concerns over whether the massive civil engineering work to solve drainage problems at Lakeside would work.

He described how stripping off the top soil would involve the removal of 5,000 tonnes of soil and the new earth being imported.

Professor Spore said: "This is a massive operation within quite a small site. It will need an extremely well-organised site operation to have any hope of achieving the conditions proposed."

Asked whether he thought that Lakeside allotments would be ready by the autumn, Professor Spore said he was extremely doubtful.

The public inquiry, which has been ordered by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, will decide whether the South Street and Monks Way sites can be disposed of for housing.

The public inquiry was due to continue today.