GARDENERS say the historic St Ann's Allotments have been "made a mess" under a multi-million pound restoration project.
One allotment-holder received a round of applause at a public meeting when she spoke out about the listed site's inadequate water supply.
She described the new borehole system, which replaced the old mains supply, as "a load of rubbish" because some gardeners had been left without water.
She also asked for an apology from those behind the project, saying: "What I would like is for someone to turn round and to say 'Yes, we have made a mess of a heritage site'. You've dug it up; you've gone through people's allotments; you've dug up asparagus beds, fruit beds, taken out hedges.
"You've removed infrastructure to put down a water structure that's basically a load of rubbish.
"We manage because we are gardeners and we are passionate about what we do. But you are turning around and saying we've got to cope. And we do. But what we would like is a sorry."
About 50 gardeners attended the meeting at the Sycamore Centre on Tuesday before a panel that included Eddie Curry, the city council's head of parks and open spaces; Cherry Underwood, executive of the Renewal Trust, the body running the allotments restoration project; and Dales councillor Ken Williams, who is also a member of the Renewal Trust board.
Project manager Harry Bury, who is employed by the Renewal Trust, told gardeners at the meeting they would have to find ways of coping.
He said: "The cost of making any improvements to the water infrastructure isn't economical.
"In other words, we can't afford it, and it's not an environmentally friendly option."
He said discussions had taken place with Severn Trent, to see if the mains supply could be reinstated. He added: "The decision was that we could have the water if we were prepared to make a massive contribution to their own infrastructure.
"There's also the environmental impact of taking expensively treated water and throwing it on the ground, much of which evaporates."
The Environment Agency has granted a licence for water to be extracted out of the ground, but has so far refused to increase the limit above 25, 680,000 litres a year.
The meeting heard the new water system was based on an agricultural model that had not been used on allotments before. Low water pressure meant some gardeners at the top of the site were left without water for three or four weeks at a time last summer.
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