Memories of life at eyesore flats

By Gemma Ryall BBC news

The view from Penarth Heights includes St David's Hotel and the Wales Millennium Centre across the water 'Eyesore' flats upgrade delayed

With sweeping views across Cardiff Bay and the Bristol Channel, you would expect Penarth Heights to be the home of the rich and lucky.

Looking out across the peaceful water, every major Cardiff sight is there to behold.

Straight ahead is the luxury St David's Hotel and beside it, the impressive Wales Millennium Centre. To the other side, you can see the landmark Millennium Stadium, while in the distance are rolling hills and valleys.

But a swift 180 degree turn around from this five-star view transports the admirer into a completely different world.

There's no 'Millionnaire's Row' of homes here: Penarth Heights - or the Billybanks as it is known locally - is a shell of a housing estate.

It is just so sad. I miss that there are no kids or families here anymore. There used to be hundreds of people here, now look at it Fay Brown

Surrounded by security fences put up to try to stop troublemakers, hundreds of flats scar the area nested atop the seaside town of Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan.

The once bustling community of the '60s, '70s and '80s is now a mass of smashed windows and walls either dirtied by deliberately-lit fires or splattered with graffiti.

It really is a ghost town, with its only visitors appearing to be dog owners from the nearby streets, who use the empty greens and abandoned play areas for walks.

For years, the Vale of Glamorgan council has planned to demolish the flats and redevelop the area.

It has given planning permission for housebuilder Crest Nicholson to build new homes on the site - homes, which you imagine, will command a far higher price tag than the council-owned Billybanks ever did.

But those plans have been delayed after the council pulled out of a public inquiry into the compulsory purchase orders it has issued to the four remaining families on the estate.

For locals, the boarded-up flats are a constant reminder of a community relocated from their homes to make way for the new development.

To see it in this mess is so sad. I just think of all the council money wasted on it Fay Brown

"It's such a pity to see it like this," said Fay Brown, who lived in a flat in Royal Close for three years in the 1980s with her husband and three young children.

"I used to come and play up here as a child and it was a lovely little community. It felt safe and all the kids would play outside with their mothers watching.

"I lived here for three years and loved it. I lived in number 49 Prince Charles Court and it was lovely at that time. I was never frightened to be here. From our bedroom you could see out over the channel. What a prime site.

"But there were always rumours way back in the '80s that they were going to demolish the flats. That's why we moved.

"When they finally moved everyone out, it was so sad.

"It ruined the community. The local school closed, the fruit and veg shop shut and businesses moved to other parts of the town. There used to even be a community centre and a nursery on the estate."

The 47-year-old, who now lives near the estate, added: "To see it in this mess is so sad. I just think of all the council money wasted on it.

"They moved people out and those people didn't want to go. Think of all the rent they could have had over the years. I can't think how long these have been empty.

"They have also had to put security fencing up around the flats because people were going in and ripping things up. It's such a pity.

It was a great community there originally... You could leave doors open and we were in and out of each other's houses Robert Nurse

"I do think it needs redevelopment now but I don't think local people will be able to afford the new homes they put here. They should have invested in the old flats so that people could have afforded them.

"I miss that there are no kids or families here anymore. There used to be hundreds of people here, now look at it."

Robert Nurse, 44, from Penarth, who lived in the Billybanks with his mother from the age of two until he was 30, also has fond memories of the estate.

"It was a great community there originally," he said.

"But it did get worse when they started moving dysfunctional families there. But it was a great community when I was younger.

"You could leave doors open and we were in and out of each other's houses.

"We were eventually relocated to a housing association house about 15 years ago. Now it's an eyesore there [at the Billybanks].

"I do think they need to redevelop it. It's a big area for housing and there's a shortage in housing at the moment.

"I'm sure a lot of the new houses would be expensive but I would hope they would also have some social housing. But something needs to be done there because it's a mess."

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