A WISTASTON resident fighting to save his home from the bulldozers has blasted the council after workmen arrived to board up his house.

Malcolm Heywood, whose property on Valley Road could be demolished along with the whole Moathouse Estate, confronted the bemused contractors who had arrived at the wrong address.

"I walked to the back door and saw people stood in my front garden. When I went to see them they told me they had come to board the house up," he said.

"They kept saying they had to because the council had purchased it. Eventually a woman from the council came down and apologised, saying they should have gone to a house further down the road.

"It turned out alright but what would have happened if I had been out? They would have just boarded it up before I got home. I was very angry."

Brian Dunning, head of the council's housing department, said the contractors, from Accrington in Lancashire, were to blame for the mix-up.

"They were given the keys which were properly marked, but for whatever reason they have gone to the wrong property," he said.

"I would like to think that had Mr Heywood been out, they would have realised they had the wrong address before boarding it up. We apologise for the mistake but I don't know if we could have done anything more."

The council decided to evacuate the estate after concrete corrosion was deemed to be making it unsafe, and they are expected to win compulsary purchase orders next week to buy back the properties from homeowners.

But Mr Heywood, who has spent 20,000 on home improvements, said he had no plans to move anywhere.

"They say they want us out of here by next January but there's no way I'm leaving. I have refused to sell because I just can't buy a house on what they have offered me," he said.

"I want to know how much it will cost the tax-payers to obtain CPOs and how long it will take. I think it will probably cost £70-80,000 and I want to know if that's worthwhile."

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