A pensioner's 12-year fight to end flooding misery outside her home is still no nearer ending.

Jessica Little says she has repeatedly asked Bradford Council to stop the flooding which turns her pavement and road into a mini "Windermere" for most of the year.

The 83-year-old claims that she has been complaining for years to the local authority about the problem at her Council-owned bungalow in Rishworth Street, off Fell Lane.

In June last year Mrs Little said that that she had frequently reported the flooding to her ward councillor, only to be told the road was not the authority's problem as it was unadopted.

Then Council officers discovered they were responsible for the offending section of road after all - because the Council owns it.

At the time a Council spokesman said: "We will investigate and carry out whatever repair work is necessary."

But Mrs Little is still waiting. She says the lake of water remains and only disappears when it is hot and leaves a yellow sludge behind.

"The smell is terrible and it is not healthy," added Mrs Little who walks with the aid of sticks. "I have complained time and time again. The Council have told me there is just no money to do the repairs."

A Council housing spokesman said: "We will ask an expert from the highways division to see if any short-term remedy can be taken which will not make the problem worse. We need to try and find a way to drain the carriageway so the water does not pool.

"We do sympathise with Mrs Little but we just do not have the resources to rebuild the carriageway with a proper drainage system which would be the long-term solution.

"Such work would have to be carried out using money from the housing revenue account which is limited.''

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