Drugs spot to turn into garden

The toilet block will be pulled down

Land believed to be a hotspot for drug dealing in Bristol is to be transformed into a garden, with a £53,000 grant from the Countryside Agency.

The cash will be used to replace redundant public toilets with a green space in Clifton Place, Easton.

The block will be pulled down, the area cleared of rough grass and hardcore, then landscaped.

The agency's initiative uses National Lottery money to create new green spaces in urban and rural areas.

'Unsafe'

Joanne Bird, a Countryside Agency adviser, said: "We're delighted to be able to help the local community to realise its ambitions for this site.

"It is important to the area because many residents have to cross it to reach shops and other services, and because it adjoins a bus stop.

"But it is currently regarded as a very unsafe place."

Easton's project is one of 20 to win funding in the South West since the £12.9m national initiative was launched in 2001.