At 64, Norma Wilson thought she would never have to leave her well-tended three-bedroom semi-detached home in Melton Terrace, Ravenscliffe - now on a list of streets to be demolished.

Only in December last year she had new double-glazing installed and cavity wall insulation fitted by Bradford Council.

Her garden, with its two greenhouses and well-tended lawns and conifers, is an award winner.

She proudly displays a silver salver from the Council's gardening competition last year.

She even hired an architect and builder for the renovation of the £38-a-week rented home she shares with husband Robert and is very proud of it - despite being on the estate with a history of trouble.

"There are pockets on here which are bad and where people are glad their homes will be demolished," saidNorma, pictured.

"But I have looked after my home. I haven't let kids kick doors in and let it be spoiled.

"And I don't want to move. I am very happy here. There is no way they will find a house of the size and garden for me which I can afford.

"They must have spent thousands doing my house up last year - and now they tell me they want to bulldoze it."

She said most tenants thought that once they had agreed for their homes to be transferred from the Council to the Bradford Community Housing Trust Group they thought would be done up.

"We all got a letter saying £75 million would be spent improving the homes here and we thought that was the future," she said.

"There was no indication they had plans like this. We are all devastated."

She said she believed the houses, roads, and fencing would be improved but did not trust the Council's pledge that most people who wanted to stay there could do so.

She also said other tenants who were moved from the Rowley Lea estate were promised they would be moved back - and never were.

"We just don't believe it when the Council says we will be able to stay.

"We know what has happened to us in the past."

Her friend Lynn Jowett, 62, whose £50-a-week rent home in Norbury Road is also earmarked for demolition, said the Council should tackle the people first.

She claims too many yobs are the reason why homes next to hers are empty - despite undergoing a recent full renovation.

She said she cannot even keep her own car on her driveway because of vandals.

"I don't want to leave the area because I love my house, my neighbours and my garden," she said.

"But there are too many anti-social people around. These people should be moved out before they start on the houses."

Alyson Gowthorpe only moved into Thackeray Road three years ago after being moved out of nearby Winslow Road.

She said: "Why should we move out so they can make a load of money building bigger, posher homes?

" I am not going anywhere. They moved me three years ago. Where will people be rehoused and which school will the children go to?

"It's not on."