CRUMBLING maisonettes on a city estate are to be torn down in November to the relief of residents.

All but one of the tenants of the Parret Close maisonettes in Bettws now have new accommodation lined up.

The council is still in discussion with the last resident, Emma Pinkstone, who owns her property, to agree on fair compensation.

Residents told the Argus of their relief at leaving the concrete cancer-riddled block.

Shaun Reynolds and his partner Rebecca Christopher have two young children. Ms Christopher said she was worried about letting her son Jack, four, play around the block, because she feared it was unsafe.

She also said her home was cold and damp with sagging, cracked ceilings.

The family is thrilled to be moving to a new house in Ringland, close to their family.

Mr Reynolds said: "We knew there was a house reserved for us a few weeks ago, but we only found out where it was in the last couple of days.

They - and all the families who have to move - will get £3,800 in compensation from the council.

A council spokesman said: "One family has already moved to new accommodation. Another five have been allocated properties in the area of their choice and are waiting to be given a moving date."

The serious structural defects in the Parret Close maisonettes were only picked up after a surveyor's report on 12 neigbouring Meon Close maisonettes in March said the building was unsafe.

They then checked the Parret Close maisonettes and found they were suffering similar defects.

Meon Close residents were evacuated urgently and the block was demolished in July after a fire gutted the top floor of the building.

A survey of the 40 to 50 Newport council properties of a similar age and design is now underway to establish whether they too are suffering structural defects.