Campaigners to save Kings Pond in Alton will have to wait until at least September before they have another chance to put their views to Alton Town Council.

In January, 120 people attended a council meeting at Alton Maltings on the Kings Pond Draft Management Plan, during which there was much anger at proposals to cut it off from the River Wey.

There are two petitions with 1,700 names against the scheme and when Labour took control of the council in May it said it would save the pond.

Since then the council has studied the pond to decide what to do next – and with that work incomplete it cancelled a July 12 Maltings meeting.

Campaigner Anthony Furnival criticised Labour for continuing feasibility studies approved when the council was controlled by the Liberal Democrat group without consulting residents.

He said: “Given that this spending was voted on by former councillors, it feels somewhat undemocratic of the new administration to support this spending without public engagement on the matter, especially given the election pledges made to save the pond and the knowledge that such opposition to the proposals exists.

“With no meeting scheduled for August, we are now looking at September before the issue will be discussed. With three months of council business to catch up on, opportunities to have meaningful discussions will be limited.”

Commenting on the cancellation, a council spokesperson said: “Members published a statement which explained they were not yet in a position to go back to the public as information gathering is still taking place.

“Council meetings are for decision-making council business, and with no motion ready to be tabled the agenda item on Kings Pond has been deferred until there is a substantive resolution to debate.”