EXCLUSIVE Last family on derelict estate won’t move out for less than £220K! Father-of-seven vows to stay in home the council has wanted to bulldoze for 10 years… unless they offer more cash

• EXCLUSIVE: Demonique Wilson, 55, ‘forced to remain on estate by Council’
• Council wants to bulldoze his home and use land for £250million development

A family of seven has been forced to live alone on a derelict estate for more than a decade because of a housing row.

Demonique Wilson, 55, lives in a three-bedroom house on Holcombe Close, Salford, with his wife Thabo, 45, and their five children.

Salford City Council has wanted to bulldoze their home since 2009 to make way for a 485-home regeneration project worth £250million.

Yet Mr Wilson said the Council has only offered him the equivalent value of a two-bedroom house, £165,000, to move out of his three-bedroom property, which is worth almost double that.

Mental health nurse Mr Wilson said his children have grown up without friends or neighbours nearby, with the constant worry they would be evicted.

Demonique Wilson, 55, (pictured) lives in a three-bedroom house on Holcombe Close, Salford, with his wife Thabo, 45, and their five children

The Wilson family has lived alone on Holcombe Close in Salford (pictured) since 2009

The family of seven lives in a three bedroom home on the end of the row of homes

Mr Wilson said the Council has only offered his family (pictured) the equivalent value of a two-bedroom house, £165,000, to move out of his three-bedroom property, which is worth almost double that

He told MailOnline that his children were becoming stressed and thought the council would force them to be homeless

He told MailOnline: ‘My children don’t know what it is like to have people living nearby.

‘I would love for them to go next door to play with friends.

‘The stress is also getting to them.

‘The younger ones don’t understand. They think that the council is going to force us out with nowhere to go.

‘They are worried.’

Mr Wilson and his wife have been in a long-running dispute with Salford City Council for over a decade.

The Council has wanted to develop 22 acres of land into ten apartment blocks ranging from three to four stories high.

The Council has wanted to develop 22 acres of land into ten apartment blocks ranging from three to four stories high. Pictured: An artist’s impression of what the development might look like

Salford City Council plans to bulldoze the Wilsons’ home (circled in red) and turn the existing area (left) into a 485-home development (right) worth £250million 

The vast majority of the homes will be for sale on the open market, with just 30 per cent earmarked for affordable housing.

Mr Wilson bought his home for £70,000 in 2008 and has less than £23,000 to pay of the mortgage.

Although the Council has increased its valuation from that of £95,000, which was made in August last year, Mr Wilson says the new number will leave them struggling to find a home. 

He said: ‘The only reason we are still living here is because the council has wrongfully valued our house as a two bedroom rather than a three.

‘We are not being greedy and we just want what our house is worth.

‘My surveyor has found that houses of a similar size to ours in this area that have sold for between £227,000 and £300,000.

‘I think I could probably find a home for £220,000 and I am ready to move but the council should do the right thing.’

Mr Wilson and his wife have been in a long-running dispute with Salford City Council for over a decade

He said: ‘The council isn’t getting valuations on comparable properties’

Mr Wilson added: ‘The council has not offered any evidence that a like-for-like house in this area has sold for £165,000’

He said that he would not be able to buy ‘a two-bedroom flat across the road’ for the money the council was offering him

Mr Wilson said a judge may ultimately have to decide the payout if an agreement cannot be reached

For now, the Wilson family are remaining in their home, alone on the estate in Salford

Mr Wilson, who bought his house in 2004, said: ‘The council isn’t getting valuations on comparable properties.

‘The council has not offered any evidence that a like-for-like house in this area has sold for £165,000.

‘I couldn’t buy a two-bedroom flat across the road for that.’

Mr Wilson said a judge may ultimately have to decide the payout if an agreement cannot be reached.

A Salford City Council spokesperson said: ‘The council can only pay the market value of the family’s current home and has offered family additional assistance in the form of an Relocation Equity loan to help bridge any gap to help the family buy a new home.

‘With all applications of this size the Local Planning Authority are awaiting consultation responses to enable them to consider the application as a whole, which includes 146 affordable homes and improvements to Clarendon Park and wider neighbourhood.’

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