Hereford allotment-holders say new access arrangements to their site off Belmont Road are a load of bollards – because they make gardening there difficult.

Elderly visitors in particular have suffered after two posts went up a month ago and stopped them driving up to their plots.

About 70 use the route and many say that having to carry equipment in makes it harder to visit and continue their work.

Site supervisor Mel Macklin said: “They are saying it’s to stop travellers parking on there but we’ve never had a problem with that before.”

Herefordshire Council and Welsh Water agreed unauthorised access to an open space by the entrance needed to be prevented.

Estates surveyor Suzanne Garlick said Hereford City Council and the allotment society were fully consulted.

“This route has never been a public vehicular right of way and it was always planned to install the bollards as part of the improved infrastructure for the area following the Asda development,”

she said.

One gardener does have a key – as does Welsh Water – but most say the posts are too heavy to lift, while others worry that paramedics could be delayed in the event of an accident.

Allotment holder Chris Evans said: “All they need to do is put a swing barrier gate in and give us a key or a combination lock.”

Hereford Allotment and Leisure Gardeners’ Society president Roy Harris thought sites across the country required vehicular access.

He said: “We will go to the national society if we need to.”