DISGRUNTLED allotment holders say they are being treated like second class citizens by a parish council.

Plot holders at the West Chilton site say resurfacing work has left many disabled and elderly gardeners unable to reach their allotments.

Chilton Parish Council has arranged for rubble for the village cemetery to be placed on the track running next to the site, leaving the surface rutted and uneven.

John Wilson, spokesman for the allotment holders, said: "We have members with one leg, and heart attack victims who are having great problems."

Jim Hunter said his 80-year-old father, who uses a wheelchair, has been unable to reach his plot and vehicles cannot deliver manure.

The allotment holders also say parking at the entrance to the site has been reduced.

Mr Wilson has received a letter from the council about him obstructing the entrance, but he says he had nowhere else to park.

Mr Wilson said: "Everybody up here is disabled or pensioners, but the council is trying to throw is out and we're being treated like second-class citizens."

Parish clerk Paul Gray agreed the surface was unacceptable but urged allotment holders to be patient.

He said the road would be laid with chippings and levelled, but it would take time.

He said: "In the past few months we have put new water pipes in, fencing and widened the track and when it is finished it will be brilliant. We are not leaving it like that, the job's half-way through completion."

Concerning Mr Wilson's letter he said: "He should have come and seen us about it rather than taking things into his own hands."