ANGRY allotment holders facing the loss of their plots have erected a protest sign on the site.

People at the Rosemount plot, near Bishop Auckland, say they stand to lose hundreds of pounds if they are forced to relocate when the lease runs out in 2011.

Dene Valley Parish Council rents the land from South Deanery Farm in Shildon, and recently notified allotment holders that the lease will not be renewed when it expires.

Parish councillors are looking to find new plots for the allotment holders, who are dismayed at the prospect of losing their gardens.

They have erected a large sign outside the allotments in protest, bearing the plea: save our gardens.

Allotment holder Jeffrey Hunt has had a plot at Rosemount for ten years, and says the garden helps his disabled son Mark, 23, who often tends to the land.

Mr Hunt said: "We put the sign up as a way of trying to get some help to save the gardens.

"There are pensioners who have held plots there for years.

"It is a shame they want us out of there."

The land owner at South Deanery Farm was unavailable for comment.