MAJOR civil engineering work will be needed to put right an Eastleigh allotment site prone to washouts in heavy rain.

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

Last October the Daily Echo revealed how a South Street

gardener decided to move on to Lakeside so he could get his broad beans in early.

But the site lived up to its name and the beans floated away in a sea of mud after torrential rain.

The extent of drainage problems at the new allotment site emerged yesterday on the second day of a public inquiry to decide whether the South Street and Monks Way sites can be disposed of for housing.

Environmental consultant Rob Askew, who was giving evidence on behalf of Eastleigh Council, agreed that, in its present condition, Lakeside was unsuitable for allotment gardening.

Mr Askew, a soil science expert, said: "Eastleigh Borough Council is fully aware of the shortcomings of Lakeside in its present state and accepts that

significant remedial work is required in order to improve the soil for use in allotments."

But he said that the council was committed to carrying out the work, which would take place as soon as the soil was dry enough.

Mr Askew said the Lakeside allotments would be available for use this autumn.

The inquiry heard that drainage work would involve major civil engineering, which would include stripping the existing topsoil and putting in an under-drainage system to help drain off surface water.

Eastleigh and Bishopstoke Allotments Co-operative Association, which has been waging a two-year campaign to save the allotments, was today calling its own expert witnesses.

They were due to produce evidence which would question the quality of soil on the replacement allotment sites.

There was a light-hearted moment during the inquiry.

Evidence on drainage problems had been in full flow when the heavens opened and Eastleigh was hit with a thunderstorm.

It produced a quickfire quip from John Hobson QC, representing the council, who remarked: "Not a day for gardening!"