The Elected Mayor of Watford said Farm Terrace will "soon be a building site" after council chiefs rejected a fresh plea for the allotments to be protected in the proposed Health Campus project.

The Labour group on Watford Borough Council proposed a motion on Wednesday urging Mayor Dorothy Thornhill and her Cabinet to work with tenants to preserve the allotments site.

But the motion was thrown out by the ruling Liberal Democrats after a heated debate in which councillors and residents in the public gallery were threatened with being removed from the chamber.

The motion followed a judgement handed down from the High Court which ruled the council failed to notify the Secretary of State about material changes being considered to the campus proposals - which could increase the number of homes on the site. 

Councillor Jagtar Dhindsa accused the council of "holding back the truth" from the Secretary of State - a claim firmly shot down and refuted by the borough council’s Managing Director Manny Lewis.

He said: "The Secretary of State made it absolutely clear he considered he had sufficient information to make his decision. Hence there is absolutely no question of the Secretary of State having being deliberately or negligently misled."

Labour and tenants believe the campus - which could include a new hospital, homes and businesses - could be completed without the allotment land, which showed the Cabinet’s "lack of imagination".

But Mayor Thornhill said that stance showed a "deep lack of understanding of the complexities of the issues" and said if a compromise for all parties was viable "we would have seen it".

She added the council would not be reopening the waiting list for a plot on the site as "it will soon be a building site".

Mayor Thornhill said: "It would be foolish as we will be resubmitting [our plans] and that site will become a building site in 12 months. It will become a site of major regeneration.

"We don’t take decisions based on how fast the bandwagon is rolling. The more they held our feet to the fire, the more it made us realise that to build without the farm terrace site would be bonkers.

"This is an important project for the town and it’s about ensuring there is a return for the taxpayers of Watford."

The Mayor also refuted suggestions she refused to meet tenants.

Labour leader councillor Nigel Bell had urged the Lib Dems to be innovative to please the town’s residents and allotment holders.

He said: "We should be able to have both a hospital and the allotments, you don’t need Farm Terrace to make the whole site more viable - compromise doesn’t have to be a dirty word.

"Surely it is only right that politicians have the imagination and the foresight to think out the box for the sake of all our residents."

The council revealed it had spent £18,560 on counsel fees and its legal team had spent 216 hours working on the High Court case.

That figure could rise if the High Court awards costs to the claimants.

Councillor Bell added: "We have seen enough council taxpayers’ money and officer time wasted by the Mayor and her administration on this unnecessary fight."