CALNE Town Council will move the town's allotments from Newcroft to four new sites without the input of allotment holders after they stormed out of a meeting last week.

Allotment holders are angry at their treatment at the hands of the town council, which previously assured them they would not have to leave plots unless a suitable alternative was available.

Amenities committee chairman Elizabeth Watkins said the Calne Allotment Society will have to approach the council if it wants to be involved in future discussions.

Coun Watkins said: "It is unfortunate they felt they couldn't participate and left without benefiting from the whole meeting. They have taken themselves away from the process and will not be party to what is going to happen because of that...at the end of the day we were seeking to work in partnership."

Coun Watkins said the allotment society's committee would have to ask to rejoin the consultation if it wanted to be involved in the future.

But Sue Taylor, secretary of the Calne Allotment Society, defended the action of members and criticised the town council for breaking a promise.

She said a letter written in March 1997 guaranteed allotment holders a replacement site before the land was sold.

"The letter says: 'We would like to stress that the town council will not be selling the land at Newcroft until agreed and suitable alternative areas are ready for occupation'."

Mrs Taylor said that last March when the allotment holders were served notice to quit their sites, they received another assurance they would not be left plotless.

"They told us then that if for any reason the proposed alternative sites were not suitable we could stay at Newcroft rent free until sites were ready or other sites found," she said.

About 20 of the 30 allotment holders who attended a special meeting with the town council last Tuesday walked out when they were told they would be left with nowhere to go from April.

The council is selling the Newcroft allotment site to residential developers to raise funds to buy playing fields to address Calne's 30 acre shortage.

The holders must quit the site in April, and although four new sites have been secured, they cannot move onto them until at least September because of unforseen planning problems and bad weather conditions.

"Legally the town council is obliged to provide allotments, but it is not responsible for the provision of sports facilities," said Mrs Taylor.

"That is for the district council to arrange.

"So why are the allotment holders being sacrificed for sports facilities?"

The Calne Allotment Society is now turning to the National Society of Allotment and Pleasure Gardeners for support in protest against their treatment.

The society is holding an extraordinary meeting to discuss the issues on Monday next week at 7.30pm in Calne Town Hall.