Allotment holders face blockades as families try to stop them driving past their homes to take manure to their plots.

The trips have caused a stink because people living in The Drive, Greengates, say it is a private road and a no-go zone for vehicles.

Now the gardeners have been warned during heated talks that the gate into the allotments will be blocked with boulders unless they keep their cars away.

One resident said: "I think we have been ridden over roughshod.

"We have no problems with them walking past but we pay for the road to be maintained ourselves and should not have vehicles damaging it. We're not against people having allotments and it's nothing personal, but it's up to the Council as their landlords to sort out the question of access."

She said most of the houses had been there since the 1890s and they had originally allowed people to drive in - but the traffic had grown.

But gardeners say allotment holders have driven down the stretch for 50 years - because their only other access is a path with a stile.

Peter Murphy, 60, chairman of Greengates Allotments Association said: "We need to bring in vehicles because we have heavy bags of manure, tools and other things which we couldn't drag in. People have been using the road for 50 years to reach the allotments and we have our rights as well."

Mr Murphy, 60, of Ailsa House, Fairweather Green, added: "There are 25 allotments but only about five people have cars.

"Our members are aged up to the 80s and the gardening is therapeutic for people who are disabled."

Jack Charlesworth, 78, of Firtree Gardens said: "It has been going on for long enough and we've had enough. We want the Council to do something."

But resident Paul Verdi, who lives in The Drive, said the dispute had escalated after a hut was built on the allotments and residents were not consulted. "Before that relations were quite good."

Mr Verdi, 50, plant manager with a chemical company, said: "It may leave me with no option but to put in obstacles.

"We have lorries coming down and they sometimes dump things like manure and pallets in The Drive."

He added the Council should pay for its maintenance.

"But our row isn't with the allotment holders. It's with the Council. It should sort it out as landlord."

A Bradford Council spokesman said: "We recognise that there is a dispute over vehicular access to the allotments. However, we are confident that all parties concerned will be able to come to an agreement acceptable to everyone."

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