A man who refused to leave a condemned housing estate that council bosses want to demolish in Wishaw has finally accepted a move to another property.
As previously reported by Lanarkshire Live, retired bank worker Nick Wisnewski had been living on his own in the derelict Stanhope Place buildings in Wishaw for three years.
Nick was the final resident in the Gowkthrapple scheme amid North Lanarkshire Council’s plans to demolish the estate and build 300 new homes.
There was once around 200 people living on the estate and 128 flats are set to be levelled as part of a regeneration project.
Nick had previously said the local authority’s offers to buy him out haven’t been good enough for him to give up his home.
However, Stephen Llewellyn, Chief Officer (Housing) with North Lanarkshire Council, said: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with Mr Wisniewski, and we were pleased to welcome him into one of our newly built council homes within the outstanding new Gowkthrapple development.
“The new housing development marks a crucial step forward in our ambitious regeneration plans for the area.
“We have worked tirelessly throughout to meet the needs of all our tenants and owner occupiers in the area and I’m sure the local community will be delighted that we can now progress with transforming the remainder of the area and providing additional quality homes for rent.
“The transformation of this site is an exciting opportunity to deliver modern, energy-efficient, and attractive homes for our residents and breathe new life into the community.
“With the first phase nearing completion, we’re proud to see the progress being made and look forward to delivering the full vision of 300 homes that will create a vibrant and welcoming neighbourhood for local people.
“I’d like to thank everyone involved in making this vision a reality, from our team to the local community for their dedication and support in driving forward this exciting regeneration project.”
Councillors had agreed to promote a compulsory purchase order for the flat and the dispute was set to go before the Scottish Government.
Mr Wisniewski had previously said: “It’s so quiet and strange being the only person living here now.
“I’m used to it now, but it can get lonely, there is no one to speak to.
“There are eight blocks each with 16 flats in them – there used to roughly be 200 people here and you would struggle to get a parking space.
“Now I am the only one left.”
He added: “You’re talking £80,000 to £100,000 to get somewhere new. I’m worried that I don’t know where I am going to end up living.
“I didn’t work all my life to have my home taken from me when I am too old to get a mortgage on something else.
“It would be so hard to leave my home.”
Nick’s fight with the council was even made into a short film thanks to independent film-maker Ryan Pollock’s 15-minute film, Exile on Stanhope Place.
Ryan, a former St Aidan’s High pupil who lives in Netherton, spent weeks working with Nick on the film which showed the ongoing demolition work in the area.
“The scenes with Nick were filmed in about eight or nine different days over the space of about a month,” said Ryan.
“It took Nick a bit of time to be comfortable being on camera, that’s quite normal with a lot of people. They are conscious of the camera. But towards the end he opened up a bit.
“I’ve got a great deal of sympathy with Nick, why should he have to be paying rent again and living in an area where he doesn’t want to move to?
“I made it with the intention of just putting it out on social media channels rather than for specific film festivals or anything like that.”
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