Award-winning gardeners from Manchester’s Broadway Allotment Association are demanding compensation from Oldham Council after being thrown off their perfect plots to make way for a five-a-side football pitch.

The disgruntled group of growers have described their new plot, just 100 yards from the original site, as a "disaster zone" and said they are "unable to grow a bean".

Michael Fyson, 77, who has won more than a dozen awards since taking over the plot in 2004, said: “The council have done a decent job on the site but the soil is just rubbish. It’s full of water too.

“I’ve been digging some trenches to drain it and have had to bale out with a bucket. We won’t be able to grow anything of quality here.”

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The move is part of a plan to make way for a new housing development, which will include 142 homes, with the nearby Grade II-listed Lancaster Club being turned into apartments.

The council had built new greenhouses and sheds for the team of gardeners on the new site, but the flooded and rocky ground is not good enough.

The previous allotments filled with plants

Ian Wade, the association’s secretary, said: “The sheds are lovely but we just can’t grow anything with this soil.

“People have paid for their plots and are looking forward to the growing season and they should be given compensation.”

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Oldham Council said in March that work was underway to relocate the allotments and was due to be completed in May.

Elaine McLean, Oldham Council’s executive director for economy and skills, said: “Issues have been raised by Broadway Allotments Association regarding a number of plots at the new site and we are working closely with the group to address these matters.

“We are carrying out soil testing in the coming days to establish the cause of the standing water and how we can improve the situation for the plot holders.”