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I'll be applying a layer of manure over the allotment ground in the next week or so. Can it be left like that or should it be dug in. Either way, can something be planted?

Is it well rotted FYM? or is it really fresh stuff. I am a no digger, so everything goes onto the surface of my soil. around autumn, I will sometimes put the chicken bedding which consists of wood shavings and the dropping, straight onto the soil surface and leave it, I wouldn't plant anything into that. If it was well rotted stuff, you could do several things, plant garlic or overwintering onions such as Radar or any other suited for autumn planted sets. You can plant field beans as a green manure or in November plant Aquadulce Claudia broad beans. You could sow tares as a green manure now as well.

With the situation of our allotments we would have to dig in or cover any manure or we would have complaints from the local houses. Something to consider in a more urban environment.

Does your allotment have a rotivator that you could borrow just to tickle the manure into the surface of the bed?

I did the same thing recently, because having spread the manure on, it dried out and formed a thick crust, which I thought might be a bit tricky for the worms to chomp through. So I rotivated it in a few inches and it seems to have done the trick.

Digger - can onions go into fresh manured ground? I thought they got some disease or other? If not, I might pop some in myself!

it isn't rotted yet. I'd like to simply spread it over the dug over ground and cover with black membrane or newspaper then membrane.

For the first few years after moving here I had fresh cow manure delivered. I covered the heap with a tarpaulin (to keep it dry) and used it the next year. That worked well for several years until my farmer neighbour gave up dairy cattle and now all the other farms in the area use slatted floors, which means no strawy manure .. just slurry.
Personally I would leave it heaped for a year, but then I have no neighbours.

I wouldn't plant any thing into fresh cow manure only if it was well rotted. I may have said this before, but the allotment blokes got a load of fresh cow manure delivered which smelt really bad and as it was on a hill we had a river of cattle piss streaming down the path for a few weeks.I use my alpaca poo straight on the garden, nothing noxious in there