A GRANDMOTHER claims that she has been condemned to living life in a hole after councillors passed plans for a multimillion- pound revamp of Southampton’s oldest museum.

Edwina Richards, 84, claims that a new cafe extension to Tudor House will block out light reaching her small courtyard garden and destroy her quality of life.

The flat-roof building, which will include toilets, will be built against her rear wall, adding almost a metre in height. It will be just a couple of feet from her bedroom window.

It is part of the next phase of the council’s work to transform the museum into a popular visitor attraction with displays and experiences to tell the story of the 15th century house and the people who lived and worked there.

The £5.5m project features a separate public toilet block and new lift shaft for the disabled. The museum has already undergone a £1.9m makeover to turn it into an education resource centre.

Mrs Richards, who has lived in her Bugle Street house for almost 60 years, said: “The courtyard is where I sit out all the time as I’m disabled and can’t get out and about.

“It’s going to change my life dramatically.

The quality of living is going to be spoiled. The value of my property will be useless. I’m going to be living in a hole.”

Mrs Richards was also worried about burglars being able to climb on to the café roof, and smells coming from its toilets. Other nearby residents and ward councillors raised objections.

The council admitted that the café would “increase a sense of enclosure”

but said that it would not harm Mrs Richards’ “residential amenity” as shadows would lengthen on her walls rather than her courtyard.

Heritage chiefs will hold talks with Mrs Richards about ways to minimise the loss of light, such as using reflective paint.

Cllr John Hannides, Cabinet member for heritage, said that the decision was vital to a bid for a £3.5m heritage lottery grant.

“It’s marvellous news,” he said. “It’s fantastic the project can continue to move forward. Tudor House is the focal point for the regeneration of the old town and in its own right of major national significance.”

Tudor House is one of the few timber- framed buildings in Southampton to survive slum clearance and wartime bomb damage.