FORMER Spitalcroft allotment holders have been dealt a blow by a Government inspector who has ruled that a developer can create allotments at land off Windsor Drive, Devizes.

Planning permission is not needed for the allotments as it is agricultural land, but Robert Hitchins appealed against the refusal of planning permission by Kennet District Council to build equipment sheds and a community building for allotment holders.

Councillors refused permission because they said the scheme would be an alien intrusion in open countryside.

A public inquiry was held last month in Devizes. Inspector Terry Phillimore has since ruled that planning permission should be granted.

Objectors at the inquiry included the Spitalcroft Allotment Association, Save Our Spitalcroft action group and Devizes Town Council.

Allotment holders argued that the soil quality at Windsor Drive was inferior to that at Spitalcroft and said Robert Hitchins' plan to import topsoil was not a solution.

Quakers Walk allotment holder Bob Shergold produced two parsnips he had grown, one on his allotment at Quakers Walk and the other in his garden in The Croft, Devizes. The allotment parsnip was 70 cm long while the other parsnip was just 6 cm.

Mr Shergold, 70, argued the soil in his garden is similar to the soil quality at Windsor Drive and believed that any produce grown at Windsor Drive would not be as good as that grown at established allotment sites.

An inspector at a public inquiry in 2000 turned down Robert Hitchins appeal to build houses on Spitalcroft because there was no alternative allotment land in the town of comparable quality.

Robert Hitchins was refused planning permission to build houses on Spitalcroft by Kennet District Council last November. Campaigners fear the latest decision will pave the way for the developer to appeal against that refusal.

Alan Padwick, chairman of Save Our Spitalcroft, said they would continue to fight against plans for homes at Spitalcroft. "It's a green lung in Devizes," he said.