IT'S a squalid, rubbish-strewn shell of empty flats - but for the last remaining residents, Newport mum Emma Talbot and her toddler son, it is still, unfortunately, home.

Nearly every door and window of the 16 mais-onettes at Lambourne Walk, Bettws, is covered with steel grilles, boarded up, or smashed.

The main stairwell has yellow pools of urine; graffiti covers every wall and even the ceiling; and overflowing bins stand at the end of the corridors. But the 21-year-old battles the filth and decay to try to keep a normal life for her two-year old son, Dylan.

She said: "I can't believe it's got like this. I moved in a year and a half ago and it was quite tidy. Then bad neighbours moved in and things started getting worse. Now it's not fit to live in."

Gangs of youths break into the empty flats to drink or take drugs. She said: "Once they set the maisonette on fire downstairs. The flames were coming over my balcony.

"I've had bricks through my windows because kids think they are all empty.

"I've found needles on the stairs and a six-year old girl who lived here was found blowing up a used condom. Her mum was hysterical.

"My little boy cannot play outside because of the broken glass everywhere."

Many of the remaining tenants of the three-bedroom homes moved out in the autumn and Ms Talbot has waited months for a new council home in Baneswell or St Julians.

She's viewing a place in Maesglas this week and hopes to leave the maisonettes, nicknamed 'The Block' by gangs, within a fortnight. She said: "A neighbour downstairs has just gone. I'm the last one in because I've been waiting for the right property to come up.

"I couldn't stay here alone any longer. A male friend stays with me at night because it's disgusting and frightening being here.

"I miss having neighbours - if I had any trouble then I could knock on a neighbour's door. But sometimes it's nice to sit out in the yard at night and have some peace and quiet."

A spokeswoman for Newport council said the flats would be demolished as soon as Ms Talbot left.

She said residents had all agreed to a voluntary transfer because the building, thought to be 40 years old, had empty flats and substandard conditions.