ELDERLY housing planned for Winchester city centre could become a "ghetto" if disabled residents cannot cross a nearby bridge, a meeting heard.

The Chesil Street Extra Care scheme will force residents in wheelchairs to cross Eastgate Bridge, near The Weirs, to access the city centre, Winchester City Council heard at its meeting on Wednesday.

Cllr Sue Nelmes said: "Has anybody tried to get an electric wheelchair or push a wheelchair over Eastgate Bridge? [If not] I worry that they might be living in a ghetto because there ain't no shops or nothing."

Cllr Ian Tait, the council's housing chief, said wheelchair accessibility had been tested on the bridge, adding the scheme would "work and work particularly well."