Pensioner in planning battle as she REFUSES to sell her front garden – even for £100k
A WOMAN of 97 is locked in a David and Goliath planning battle over her front garden and is refusing to sell it to developers even for £100,000.
Dolly Burton is refusing to give up two metres of her front garden wanted by developers
Determined Dolly Burton has been asked to give up two metres of her front garden so that plans to build 49 houses can go ahead.
Her council home is owned by Bristol City Council, and Ms Burton has reportedly been offered a "five figure sum" by the local authority and developers.
She has lived in the house on Shaldon Road, Lockleaze, Bristol, for 50 years.
They can offer me £100,000 and I still wouldn't budge
But the two-metre strip of land in her front garden is needed to widen the road in front of her house, to create a public highway for the development.
Ms Burton told the BBC: "They can offer me £100,000 and I still wouldn't budge.
"The way they wanted it, they'd take most of the garden and it would be awful if I had no front garden."
Developers want to build 49 houses close to Shaldon Road, Lockleaze, Bristol
Councillor Paul Smith, cabinet member for housing, said she was "completely within her rights to refuse" the offer.
Mr Smith said: "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.
"If we can't use that strip of garden then we'll have to work with the existing access."