Bristol woman refuses to give up garden for new housing Published duration 4 March 2018

image caption Dolly Burton has been offered a "five-figure sum" for a 2m strip of land, which belongs to the council

A 97-year-old Bristol woman is refusing to give up a strip of her front garden needed for a new housing development.

Dolly Burton lives in council housing on Shaldon Road in Lockleaze in front of a planned development of 49 homes.

Bristol City Council and developers have offered her a "five-figure sum" for the land, which is owned by the authority, to widen access to the site.

But Ms Burton, who has lived there for 50 years, said: "They could offer me £100,000 and I wouldn't budge."

The authority and developers need permission to take a two-metre slice from Ms Burton's garden, to widen the development's access road so it can be adopted as a public highway.

image caption Bristol City Council and developers need permission to take two metres of Ms Burton's front garden

But Ms Burton says no amount of compensation will persuade her to part with the land.

"The way they wanted it, they'd take most of the garden and it would be awful if I had no front garden," she said.

Councillor Paul Smith, cabinet member for housing, said she was "completely within her rights to refuse" the offer.

"She is a council tenant, it is council-owned land, but the rules are such that the council can't take away part of somebody's tenancy without their agreement," he said.

"If we can't use that strip of garden then we'll have to work with the existing access."