A paramedic forced to give up his Wolverhampton home after being told it was to be bulldozed amid chemical contamination fears is furious that it may now be left standing.

Around a dozen families, including David Wallbank and his wife Marie, were paid £130,000 to move out of the Farndale Estate, in Whitmore Reans, last year. The estate was built on the site of the former Courtaulds textiles factory and the homes were bought by Dutch site owners Akzo Nobel so the land could be decontaminated of carbon disulphide.

The Express & Star revealed last week how the vacant homes would now be sold off after Akzo Nobel found it could carry out the decontamination without demolishing them.

Mr Wallbank, who lived with his family in Cromer Gardens for 32 years, said today he felt like he had been “defrauded” out of his home. “They offered us a price £12,000 less than what they were worth,” he said. “We were told the houses had to come down so we moved out.

“We had a fantastic community on the Farndale estate. All the neighbours knew each other and they’d always help you out if you needed them to. Now that’s all gone because we’ve all been forced to move.”

Mr Wallbank, a paramedic for West Midlands Ambulance Service, along with wife Marie, aged 57, had to leave the home – where they had brought up sons Geoff, 37, and Andrew, 27 – on December 17 last year.

They now have a home in Kington Close on Wednesfield’s Coppice Farm estate.

Wolverhampton City Council Councillor Roger Lawrence said the properties were likely to be re-sold to private buyers. “The residents have had a really rough time,” he admitted.

Around 600 people were initially informed their properties were at risk.

Tests eventually showed the majority of the homes were free of the chemical, but dangerously high levels were found in 17 properties in Cromer Gardens.