THE battle to save Eastleigh allotments from developers remains a bitter dispute between the people of the town and an increasingly desperate and out of touch local council who in their latest move against allotment gardeners have plunged to new depths of heartlessness in trying to push forward their plans.

We have a crazy situation where Eastleigh has hundreds of people waiting for an allotment, but allotment sites with dozens of empty plots held back by the council in their devious attempt to denigrate the towns allotments to enable them to justify their disposal.

It was suggested to the council by Woodside Avenue allotment gardeners that the empty plots on this site could be put under cultivation and the produce sold for charity.

Eastleigh Council have said no! An act of callous, infantile spite.

To add insult to injury Eastleigh Council have created a unique part-time job with a senior member of their administration running around the threatened allotments of Eastleigh making sure that allotment plots are not used. And the people of the town are paying this individual's wages.

So much for this town's charitable and green credentials.

RICHARD MAY, Eastleigh.

Eastleigh Council leader Keith House replies: It is disappointing that Richard May and a small number of others continue to oppose building more homes for those in need on sites that have planning permission.

The council has created large numbers of new high quality allotments and offered allotment plots for produce to be cultivated for charity.

The Liberal Democrats won 13 out of 14 seats in last week's election, with the Conservatives winning none for the first time in 50 years, with Labour coming third in Eastleigh Central.

It is a little hard to characterise these results as the Lib Dems being "out of touch".