Farm Terrace is not a major election issue, Dorothy Thornhill believes after declining to be interviewed in "hostile territory" at the allotments.

BBC London News interviewed Watford’s Parliamentary candidates at the Farm Terrace Allotments site - except Mrs Thornhill, with the Liberal Democrat switching her location to Watford General Hospital.

Mrs Thornhill, who has championed the Watford health campus as mayor, moved the location as she wanted to be on "neutral ground" and added Farm Terrace would not feature in the General Election.

There were rumours on Twitter that allotment holders would hold a protest against plans to bulldoze the land during the interview.

Mrs Thornhill said: "I felt it was unfair for me to go to a hostile location, it’s not a neutral place and the BBC is supposed to be fair.

"But Farm Terrace is not an election issue because the MP cannot change that decision, it’s the eected mayor of Watford."

When asked if she feared her decisions from Town Hall over Farm Terrace could lose her Parliamentary votes, Mrs Thornhill said: "No, because if it were to hit, it would have been at the mayoral election.

"A new mayor could have reversed the Farm Terrace decision but we won that election quite convincingly."

Mrs Thornhill switched her interview with the BBC to outside Watford General Hospital, as one of her key election pledges is to 'secure better health facilities for the town'. 

Sara Jane Trebar, from the Save Farm Terrace campaign group, said there was no such protest planned and Mrs Thornhill would have been welcomed for her interview.

But Ms Trebar believes Watford residents will have issues such as the allotments in their minds when they head to the polls.

She said: "I would say there is a conflict of interest between Dorothy’s mayoral role and the parliamentary campaign and she’s trying to shy away from that.

"Clearly she’s not necessarily going to change her mind about the whole thing but it is an issue that needs to be taken up by the town’s MP and a parliamentary candidate."

Allotment holders had been buoyed by the announcement the High Court would not make a decision on Watford Borough Council’s third submission over Farm Terrace until after the General Election.

The council went back to the Secretary of State in January to gain permission to build on the land after its application was rejected by the High Court. Mayor Thornhill said the decision was "narrow".

Ms Trebar said: "The fact the council said their application just needed updating and resubmitting, and it’s still not been resolved and now put back, means it cannot be as easy as the council thinks.

"If Labour was to get in nationally it would be a different government looking at it, so it’s a small victory for us."