COMMENTS made on Twitter threatened to open a political rift at the borough council over plans to spend £507,000 on new allotments.

Earlier this week, cabinet members spoke out in favour of 100-year-old legislation which means the authority will be forced to shell out for 290 new half-plots.

Cheltenham Borough Council needs to save £2.6 million next year to avoid slipping into the red after the Government slashed its annual funding.

But the plots recommendation has been questioned by chief executive Andrew North on the social networking site.

Mr North wrote: "Allotments are important to those who use them but are they, objectively, a priority for protection/enhancement?"

The comment appeared to call into question the views of Councillor Roger Whyborn, cabinet member for sustainability, and Councillor John Webster, cabinet member for finance.

Both men had passionately backed spending the cash on new allotments for the 565 people on the waiting list.

But Mr Whyborn said: "I don't think we disagree over this. One of the difficulties with Twitter – and one of the reasons I don't use it – is you are putting in very cryptic messages which do not tell the whole story.

"I think what Andrew is saying is, if the money was not ring-fenced, would you spend £507,000 on new allotments. The answer is probably not. But allotments are important and there is a huge demand for them in this town."

Twitter allows users to send and receive short messages called Tweets. Following his first Tweet, Mr North exchanged messages with Cheltenham's Labour group and Kai Rudat, a director at the Office for Public Management about the importance of allotments.

The debate caught the attention of national newspaper blogger Patrick Butler, who quoted the Tweets on The Guardian's website.

After Mr Rudat suggested allotments could become an important part of the Government's Big Society idea, Mr North said: "Agree very much re allotments and Big Society approach but [it's a] myth we can do everything [we] do now with 28% less money."

In last week's Comprehensive Spending Review, Chancellor George Osborne announced funding for councils would be slashed by more than seven per cent a year until 2015.

Although the council has a statutory duty to provide plots, there are no rules forcing bosses to put aside money. Mr North declined to comment.