A new row has blown up over plans to offer compensation to Eastleigh's allotment gardeners who are being forced to quit their plots to make way for hundreds of new homes.

Each plot holder would receive at least £100. However, campaigners who are battling to save their allotments say that no amount of financial compensation will make up for the loss to the community.

The compensation payout, which it is estimated will amount to £35,000, is part of a package for plot holders who move from the town's Monks Way, South Street and Woodside Avenue allotments.

As well as the cash payments plot holders will have the choice to switch to five new sites - Chestnut Avenue, Lakeside and Monks Way in Eastleigh, Eagle Close, Chandler's Ford and at Broomhill, near Allbrook.

The new sites will have water supply, power, storage facilities, car parking and special plots for people with disabilities.

Eastleigh Council leader Keith House says: "To avoid the need for the majority of plotholders having to make individual detailed claims for compensation we have agreed a generous cash payment to cover replacement of any lost planting and disturbance.

"For some allotment holders who have large plots this could mean automatic compensation of several hundred pounds. We will also be allowing plot uyu7u7yholders affected by the closure to continue on their allotments until the end of this year."

More than 300 new allotments are being provided in the Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford areas to replace allotments on land which the council has earmarked for a massive housing development.

Planning applications have been submitted by the council and are with the Office of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Councillor Keith House said the proposals to build houses on the three sites were necessary to meet the government's house building targets and the demand for new homes.

Eastleigh and Bishopstoke Allotments Co-operative Association have attacked the compensation move, describing it as premature.

Association chairman Tim Holzer said: "The council does not have the permissions it requires either to develop the sites in question or to stop using them for allotments.

"In trumpeting these compensation proposals Councillor House also completely misses the point. This is not an issue of money.

"It is an issue of saving some of our very best allotment sites for current and future residents of an ever more crowded Eastleigh.

"These sites are oases of green recreational space situated where they are needed - in and adjacent to some of the most densely populated parts of the town. No amount of financial compensation would mitigate this loss to the community."