Last resident moves to new home

Last night Emma Talbot and her toddler son moved out of the filthy Bettws maisonettes - a boarded-up nightmare covered in graffiti and urine.

The Argus revealed last week how they were left alone in the squalid block of 16 maisonettes at Lambourne Walk while the council re-housed them.

Ms Talbot, 21, said she hoped the new home - a terraced house with a garden on Maesglas Road, Maesglas - would offer her and two-year-old Dylan a brighter future.

She added: "Dylan couldn't leave the flat before because there was so much broken glass everywhere. Now there's a garden where he can play. "I'm so glad to be away from the last place. It was unbearable.

"This is smaller than the maisonette but it's right by the school and round the corner from the shops."

Life in the maisonette started off well when Ms Talbot moved in during summer 2002, but by winter, when most of her neighbours had moved, she was plagued by gangs of youths starting fires and taking drugs. She said: "I haven't had neighbours for months. It's nice to have people around again.

"I've had £3,100 relocation compensation so I'm going to redecorate and maybe take Dylan to Disneyland in Paris."

A spokeswoman for Newport council said: "The flats will be demolished. Once a decision was taken to empty them, residents were moved as quickly as possible."Last resident moves to new home the last resident to leave a squalid block of Newport flats today woke up in her new home.

Last night Emma Talbot and her toddler son moved out of the filthy Bettws maisonettes - a boarded-up nightmare covered in graffiti and urine.

The Argus revealed last week how they were left alone in the squalid block of 16 maisonettes at Lambourne Walk while the council re-housed them.

Ms Talbot, 21, said she hoped the new home - a terraced house with a garden on Maesglas Road, Maesglas - would offer her and two-year-old Dylan a brighter future.

She added: "Dylan couldn't leave the flat before because there was so much broken glass everywhere. Now there's a garden where he can play. "I'm so glad to be away from the last place. It was unbearable.

"This is smaller than the maisonette but it's right by the school and round the corner from the shops."

Life in the maisonette started off well when Ms Talbot moved in during summer 2002, but by winter, when most of her neighbours had moved, she was plagued by gangs of youths starting fires and taking drugs.

She said: "I haven't had neighbours for months. It's nice to have people around again.

"I've had £3,100 relocation compensation so I'm going to redecorate and maybe take Dylan to Disneyland in Paris."

A spokeswoman for Newport council said: "The flats will be demolished. Once a decision was taken to empty them, residents were moved as quickly as possible."