Llanelli regeneration: Mixed emotions as flats face demolition

Allan Wood: "We've made friends here over the years"

One of the last tenants at a condemned complex of flats is feeling mixed emotions as he faces finally leaving.

Allan and Carol Wood moved into Ty Elizabeth in Llanelli with their three children 30 years ago.

Their children have grown up and flown the nest - now so will they in the coming weeks.

Carmarthenshire council will demolish and replace the group of three and four-storey blocks - built in the 1960s without lifts - with modern housing.

The 44 flats and maisonettes in Ty Elizabeth, Ty Cydwel, Ty Meriel and Ty Howard could face the wrecker's ball in March.

"We have found it pretty good," said Mr Wood. "The area is tidy, and it's close to town.

"We've made friends here over the years. There used to be a Polish couple downstairs, and I got on great with them."

Mr Wood said he had heard rumours for a while that the complex, including the couple's three-bedroom first and second floor maisonette, might be knocked down.

The blocks will be replaced by more modern housing to help regenerate the area

He and his wife have found a nearby two-bed council bungalow, which will undergo some work before the keys are handed over.

So it's goodbye to the concrete staircase and hello to ground-floor living, with gardens at the front and back.

Mr Wood and his wife are understood to be the last-but-one remaining household in the once-popular complex.

"When we first moved here, if someone moved out someone else would be in with a month or two," said the former tanker driver who now works as a milkman.

Councillors Andre McPherson (left) and Suzy Curry set up a food bank in a vacant flat in February

Mr Wood has more recently seen the blocks become increasingly empty, although many people still visit Ty Elizabeth after one of the flats was turned into a food bank.

There, with Christmas approaching, Labour councillors Andre McPherson and Suzy Curry are sorting out food packages for some 470 families - more than twice the number they forecast.

They back the demolition plans, part of a £9m regeneration package for the Tyisha ward announced by the Plaid Cymru-led county council in 2019.

"We not only support the plans but we are pushing them forward as much as possible," said Ms Curry.

Mr McPherson said the flats and maisonettes had "served their purpose".

"They were designed to have a lifespan.  But people can't get up and down the stairs," he said.

"It will be good to see them go."