Man who refused to let council demolish his house says it's rocketed in value

Charlie Wright's property was the only house to survive council demolition on his estate in Birkenhead after he refused to move out. (Reach)

A homeowner who refused to let the council demolish his property for decades has seen a housing estate pop up around him, causing his house to soar in value.

Charlie Wright lived on his estate in Birkenhead, Wirral all his life, but he stubbornly refused to move as it was flattened around him.

But in four years his house has gone from a solitary property surrounded by wasteland to being the centre of a large new-build housing estate.

Wright's house has become a detached property. (Mercury)

An estate has now popped up around Wright's home. (Mercury)

The house is now a detached property after the removal of the two homes on either side, the outside has been repainted, and Wright no longer lives in splendid isolation but has a fresh set of neighbours as a new, 178-home estate springs up around him.

The speed of the housing development took 70-year-old Wright completely by surprise.

He said: "I'd spent most of the last year in hospital. When I left, they told me 'let's go and see your house.' I couldn't believe it, I said 'look at all these houses here.'"

Wright's fierce attachment to the home where he grew up with his parents and brothers and sisters (he was the second youngest out of nine) hasn't diminished over the years.

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Wright's house has now had a facelift. (Liverpool Echo)

He said: "I won't move from here. My family has had this house for 100 years. It was my parents' house and they raised their children here.

"Twenty-odd years ago they began pulling the estate down, and the council offered people £2,000 and a house to move to.

"I just said, 'look this house is not up for sale'. Margaret Thatcher gave the ordinary person the right to buy their council house. There's nothing to think about, this house will never be sold.

"The only way anyone will get their hands on this house will be when I'm six feet under."

Wright was formerly one of the founding members and chairman of the River Streets Community Association Ltd, set up as a registered charity to look after the interests of the residents then living on the 600-home council estate.

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Wright's property has soared in value. (Liverpool Echo)

He said: "We bid successfully for government grants to do the streets and houses up, with new windows and doors. We had our own sports and social club, and did free meals on wheels for the pensioners. Everything was running perfect."

With a job as a boilerman at the nearby Mobil Oil site - where he worked all his life - Wright's horizons have never stretched far beyond the estate. Even a trip over the water to Liverpool was a rarity.

Sadly Wright's life was turned upside down last December, when a thug broke into his house, held a knife to his throat while demanding money, and then hit him three times over the head with a hammer.

Wright's house (with the different roof) surrounded by his new estate. (Mercury)

Wright suffered life-changing injuries, including memory impairment, and spent the best part of a year being treated in hospital and then at a specialist brain injuries unit.

He said: "It doesn't change the way I feel about living here. I'm never moving out of my house. Before this happened, I'd never had so much as a break-in in the 70 years I've lived here.

"Most of the memories are really good ones. I'm quite happy with myself.

"I've gone from living in a terraced house to a detached house with a driveway, so it's paid off for me in the end."