HOUSING association officials have denied they are being unfair to an obese woman who is wheelchair-bound.

Elizabeth Neilson Dance, 29, said she had struggled with her weight for the past 15 years because of a number of health conditions, including a problem with her back and ovaries.

Now she says her heart is being ‘ripped out’ because she is not allowed to move into a warden controlled flat for older people.

Sovereign Vale Housing Association said she was too young to be considered for it.

Four months ago, the strain of standing and walking with her 20-stone frame became too much for Mrs Neilson Dance to bear any longer and she said she was forced to start using a wheelchair.

She and partner Katie, 22, who is also Mrs Neilson Dance’s full-time carer, live in a ground-floor flat in Faringdon, paid for by Vale of White Horse District Council and run by the housing association Sovereign Vale.

But now the pair, who between them claim around £1,000 in carers’ benefits and disability allowances a month, want to move into a warden controlled flat in Abingdon for people aged over 55, so they can be nearer to Mrs Neilson Dance’s mother.

She said: “We have been speaking to the man who lives in the flat in Abingdon and he wants to move too.

“He is only 45 and was only in there with a bad back. He wants to move out and says our place is perfect.

“If I lose weight, there’s a possibility I’ll walk again.

“But if I don’t and we stay here, they will have to spend thousands of pounds adapting the place for me.

“It’s ripping my heart out that they won’t let me move.

“At the moment Katie has to do everything for me and can’t leave me alone for more than an hour. My life would be better there.

“I would be closer to my mum and if I needed any help from a warden, I could just press a bell. It’s not fair.”

A spokesman for the Sovereign Vale Housing Association confirmed Mrs Neilson-Dance had contacted them on July 5 to ask about a possible swap with another Sovereign Vale tenant who lives at Collingwood Close, Abingdon.

He said: “While there is some flexibility regarding the age of residents if they are disabled, this does not extend to someone as young as Ms Neilson-Dance.

“Housing association tenants are able to do exchanges of the kind requested by Ms Neilson-Dance, but they have to meet specific criteria for particular properties where they exist.

“The property was clearly advertised with an age restriction.”