Last person living on street set for demolition spends £2k redecorating after refusing to move

A man who is the last person left living on a street set for demolition has splashed out £2k on redecorating his home.

Nick Wisniewski, 67, has no neighbours remaining in the 128 flats on Stanhope Place in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, after the last of around 200 residents moved out over a year ago.

The eight blocks of flats and other homes on the estate are all scheduled for demolition so that the area can be redeveloped but Wisniewski has refused to move out, despite North Lanarkshire Council offering him £35k for his property and two years of rent.

Now, after saying he hasn’t heard from the council since November 2021, Wisniewski has spent nearly £2k repainting, carpeting his living room, installing a new cooker and panelling his hall – and insists he has no plans to leave.

He said: “I’m not worried about spending money on the flat because I think I am going to be here for a while, I have still heard nothing from the council.

“At the end of last year they said they were doing a compulsory purchase order but they haven’t even notified me about it.

“I don’t know if it was all a ploy to try and scare me into contacting them – but why should I have to get in touch with them?

“If they want me to go they need to get in touch with me.“

The retired bank worker said the area outside his flat has now become an “eyesore”, with piles of rubbish piling up and lighting in the flats no longer working.

He bought his flat in 2017 under the Right to Buy scheme which helped council tenants buy their homes at a discounted price.

Wisniewski said the area made up of eight blocks used to be buzzing with around 200 people, but the last residents left in December 2021.

He claims North Lanarkshire Council's £35k offer to move would not be enough to buy somewhere else.

He added: “I could be wrong, but I am assuming the council are holding off until they build the new bungalows and maybe they will offer me one of them.

“They initially said they would give me two years rent free, but I would want more than that now.

“If they are offering me money for the flat it would need to be near the £100k mark now – prices have gone up, everything is more expensive now.”

Yahoo News UK has contacted North Lanarkshire Council for comment.