The one family remaining at a condemned Black Country housing estate are defying the bulldozers because they refuse to be parted from their pets.

Martin Blatchford, aged 49, his wife Lorraine and 17-year-old son Asa are now the sole residents on Dudley’s North Priory estate as homes are demolished around them.

The Berry Road family, have been offered a house in Woodsetton, but say it has no facilities for their pigeons or three dogs.

Mr Blatchford said Dudley Council did not fulfil its promise to provide like-for-like alternative homes. The Woodsetton house had no fencing in the front garden, making it easy for dogs to escape, and there was no facilities for his pigeons.

“We were allocated the new house on July 1 last year and assumed we would be in long before Christmas,” he said.

“The house is perfect and we want to live there, but it is just not possible. We don’t want to give up our pets.

“We’ve spent a lot of money on security measures at our current home, including four CCTV cameras, but the council claims it is too expensive to re-install these at the new property.

“At the moment we are not moving until the improvements and security we want are in place.”

Mr Blatchford said he had lived on the estate all his life, and at his current address in Berry Road for 22 years.

Dudley Council spokesman Chris Howes said the authority was investigating the Blatchford family’s case.

Work to knock down the first properties at the site started yesterday.

Among those who turned out to see the first bricks fall were Sally Johnson, who worked as a volunteer on the North Priory estate for nine years,

She said the demolition marked the end of one of the last traditional Black Country communities.

Mrs Johnson, who lives in nearby Priory Road, helped to run the estate’s Local Action Centre and knew most of the residents by name. She said seeing the rubble fall had sparked mixed emotions – fond memories of the people who had lived there and sadness at the community now broken up.

“Seeing all the debris in the streets and the unwanted items some had left behind really brought home how the soul had been taken out of the place. It was once so vibrant, full of friendly people who were dedicated and passionate about the estate.

“All there seemed yesterday was the empty shells of the houses the heart of the place had left along with the people.”

Mrs Johnson said she had first become a member of the Priory Community Association 11 years ago, and later become a volunteer at the Local Action Centre.

“What I will always remember most about my time on the estate is the way residents always rallied around to help one another,” she said.

“If one was in trouble the residents would go out of their way to help them out as best they could.

“I’ll also remember the New Year parties at the centre. There was always fun and laughter.

“It was one of the last remaining traditional Black Country communities and now it is gone.”

Mrs Johnson said she did not know if the spirit of the place would be recaptured once new houses had been built on the site.

“A few people have told me if they have the chance they will return. The places they have moved to do not have the same feel or spirit.”