RESIDENTS of Kirkbymoorside have backed calls by the local Allotments' Association for action to save their gardens through a compulsory purchase order.

More than 50 people at the town assembly agreed that Ryedale District Council should be asked to buy the land, in Gillamoor Road.

Gardeners fear it is under threat of development for homes by North Yorkshire County Council, which owns the site.

Councillor Barry Brook, a town councillor and secretary of the association, said: "Kirkbymoorside has had the allotments since the 1880s and the need for them is as great today as it was then."