KEEN gardener David Stubbington feels that he is sunk before he even starts on his new Eastleigh allotment.

For his two neatly sown lines of broad beans, which were sown barely a week ago, have floated away in a sea of mud.

It has triggered off a new storm over the town's new allotments which are replacing plots where Eastleigh Council has plans to build hundreds of homes.

Mr Stubbington, a 66 year-old retired lorry driver, who lives in Doncaster Road, Eastleigh, has been an allotment holder for 22 years.

He is moving from his South Street site to make way for the council's massive housing development plans.

Mr Stubbington, who still has his existing plot, decided to move into nearby new allotments at Lakeside so he could get his broad beans in early. They are normally sown in October.

He says that the new site has lived up to its Lakeside name and washed away his crop.

He said: "I have put 80 broad beans in but they are under a large lake of water and rotting away."

Mr Stubbington believes that the Lakeside site is some way off from being suitable for allotments because it lacks drainage.

He said: "There is still substantial work to be done on this site and it may never be suitable for gardening."

An Eastleigh Council spokesman said: "The weekend's heavy rainfall has resulted in excessive surface water collecting on parts of the sites. Remedial work will be undertaken as soon as ground conditions permit."

Last night the Eastleigh and Bishopstoke Allotments' Association claimed that the creation of allotments sites at Lakeside and Chestnut Avenue was turning into a disaster.

Association secretary Tony Murrills said: "A large area of the new Lakeside site has been under water during recent wet weather and most of the site is completely waterlogged, despite the recent construction of drainage ditches.

"One plot holder who has attempted to transfer to this site has watched his autumn sown crops disappear beneath rising water levels.

"Attempts to erect a shed on his plot have been abandoned because it just keeps sinking into the mud. The situation is no better at the new site in Chestnut Avenue which is also completely waterlogged."

Mr Murrills added: "We have been telling the council for nearly two years that its proposed alternative allotment sites are unsuitable for allotment gardening."