THE future of Calne's new allotment site has been safeguarded by the town council's decision to designate it as statutory.

At a meeting of the town council last week members unanimously agreed that the new allotments at Beversbrook and the 26 planned on retained land at Newcroft should be set aside by the council as allotments.

The decision will protect the sites in the future from the sale of the land for purposes other than allotments, without first seeking the permission of the secretary of state.

Calne town councillor Ellenor Bland, who is still fighting to save the town's old allotment site at Newcroft, said: "I'm over the moon about the decision. The whole point of making the allotments statutory is to protect them for future generations.

"I don't want what happened at Newcroft to happen again in Calne, because these allotments are part of our heritage.

"In the eighteenth century the allotment acreage in Calne was enormous, but now we're down to about three acres. I just don't want to lose these priceless parcels of land."

The council's resolution was in line with the previous town council's decision, which was made during discussions about the relocation of the Newcroft allotments, to designate new allotments sites in Calne as statutory.

Town clerk Ann Kingdon said: "The Beversbrook allotments site and retained land at the Newcroft site has now been set aside by Calne Town Council for the special purpose of being allotment gardens.

"As such, this seals the future of the site for this purpose forever, as any other council which ever sought to sell the land for another purpose, would have to apply to the Secretary of State for approval to do so."