Pucklechurch Mum told to 'stop tending' daughter's memorial garden

A mother whose 11-year-old daughter was killed in 1996 by a driver using a mobile phone says she has been told to stop looking after her memorial garden.

Lynda Hudd has tended her daughter Rebekka's garden in Pucklechurch for 20 years but says the parish council has told her that she is no longer needed.

She said: "My health isn't as good as it was, they're just brushing me off."

Pucklechurch Parish Council said there had been concerns about the garden's ongoing maintenance over several years.

Rebekka was killed near her South Gloucestershire home when a car mounted the pavement and hit her.

The Home Office donated the "small corner plot" of land for Rebekka's Garden in 2001. It is owned by the parish council for insurance purposes.

"It's on the corner opposite my house where Rebekka used to play," said Ms Hudd.

"It's Rebekka's memory and Rebekka's Garden and is really important to me."

The 65-year-old said both her parents and children had helped maintain the garden "as and when it needed it" over the years.

She said it was "very upsetting" when she received a letter from the parish council saying it would be "consulting with the community to develop a scheme to enhance and improve the garden".

She said the council told her they appreciated her "efforts to maintain the area" over the years but the garden was "now in need of a programme of maintenance improvements".

They thanked her for her efforts but as owners of the land they "no longer" required her assistance in maintaining the site.

"My health isn't as good as it was and I can't go over there and spend hours and hours," she said.

"But after 20 years, they're just brushing me off - telling me clear off now."

The parish council said it had been in regular contact with Ms Hudd over concerns about the ongoing maintenance of the garden over several years.

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