A real-life “Up” woman is refusing to leave her home – and is the last remaining tenant on a street of nearly 800 houses due to be demolished.
Determined Sally Pannell, 50, is surrounded by boarded up and abandoned properties which are set to be knocked down.
Every single neighbour out of 795 properties on her estate has been relocated by the council which is modernsing the area.
But Sally is refusing to go – and is living in her home surrounded by derelict and empty two and three bed houses.
She has been served legal papers from Plymouth Community Homes telling her she would have to leave by the end of March – just a month’s time.
But she says after spending nearly a decade making the place feel like home is too distraught at being forced to leave it all behind.
Her final stand mirrors that of the main character from the Disney classic Up – who stubbornly holds out while the neighborhood homes are torn down.
Her last neighbour moved out last weekend – making Sally the last resident remaining on Woodville Road in North Prospect in Plymouth, Devon.
The estate is being bulldozed in its entirety to make way for 143 new homes.
It is part of a large scale regeneration scheme in the area which will see 1,125 new ‘modern’ homes replacing 795 existing properties due to be completed by 2020.
Sally, who moved there in 2009, said: “I think I am being cheated.
”When I was served the papers I felt shock really, more than anything. I know we are being bulldozed, but please help me and help me find something that I want.
“At the minute I am self-employed and run my own little business, which means I need to be very central to Plymouth.
“I’ve been in this house for nine years and have all my friends and family still very close to this area.
”What I have been offered is totally impractical and unsuitable for me. It’s just not feasible for me.
“I pay full rent and full council tax and I think I am being cheated. I have made this a home and I have loved being here.
“My garden is my lifeline. I spend so much time out there.
“It’s going to feel horrible to leave because I don’t know where I am going to end up or who I am going to be living next to.
”How far will I be from my closest? It’s a scary prospect at my age.
“I have to be out at the end of March, but at the moment I have nowhere to go.
”It feels sickening, because I’ve been living with boxes for nearly seven months now, downsizing, and getting rid of possessions.”
All of Sally’s neighbours have left now with the last family moving out last weekend.
She added: “Since everybody has gone it has been very quiet, but at least there is lots of parking.
“Living in North Prospect has been wonderful. I came from the refuge and got allocated this house.
”My daughter and myself didn’t have anything so a lovely lady across the road and my neighbour were running us baths and cooking us meals.
“All we had were two cups and two plates, but everyone was very warm and very welcoming. It’s just been wonderful.
“Living in North Prospect there was always that code of honour that you looked after each other. Yes, you would have the odd punch up and kids swearing or taking drugs, but you’re not going to stop that. It’s just frustrating.”
Sally says the area has become a trouble hotspot since it was abandoned with yobs regularly throwing bricks through windows and knocking down doors.
She added: “It is quite scary. My biggest fear is a fire, or one of them getting hurt.”
Andrew Lawrie, head of development for Plymouth Community Homes, said they have been “sensitively” working with their tenant to help her move.
He said: “We understand Ms Pannell is strongly attached to her home and we have been working sensitively with her to help make the move as smooth as possible.
”This has included offering her suitable homes including a two bedroom house at Plympton.
“We have based the homes she has been offered on her housing needs and the homes she has been offered continue to be at a similar rent level.
”We have committed to paying moving costs and compensation for the inconvenience of having to move.
“Our aim is to match people with properties that best meet their circumstances so that they are affordable, comfortable and mean we can offer suitable homes to as many people as possible on Plymouth’s housing waiting list.”
