THE bulldozers have moved in to flatten Hightown Flats.

A high-tech excavator is now on site demolishing the concrete housing complex built just 40 years ago.

The death knell for the five blocks of five-storey apartments, which had been plagued by a catalogue of structural problems, was sounded in late 2009.

Wrexham Council said it could not afford to spend £17.5 million on a major facelift of the 181 flats and maisonettes and therefore decided to knock down the whole complex to make way for affordable housing.

In a consultation exercise, seven out of 10 tenants and residents backed the decision.

Preparatory work started on the flats in Gatefield and Napier Square in January and has progressed well with the removal of materials containing asbestos, doors and frames, windows and floor boards.

Now just the concrete shells remain which will be systematically demolished over the next few months using the excavator, which can reach up over 30 metres, and other smaller but similar machines.

This method offers a more remote and safer method of removing large buildings.

After the flats are taken down the area will be enclosed with a rail fence, the land graded and part-seeded to leave a grassed area until redevelopment begins.

Since January the intricate process of finding new homes for 120 households has been progressing steadily.

The council set up a project team to liaise with the people affected and three officers have been dealing full-time with the operation.

While some tenants have decided to move to housing association properties, the majority have opted to stay with the council.

According to the authority, feedback from tenants about their new homes had been positive.

Council officers have also been doing follow-up work with tenants who have moved out.

In a number of cases, people had been able to move to places they would not have had the points to qualify for under normal circumstances.

Despite ‘Operation Hightown’ having an effect on it, the council’s normal lettings procedure has still been going ahead.

To compensate them for losing their homes, people moving from the flats were entitled to statutory compensation of £4,700 per household, in addition to payments for removal costs.

Tenants were given the choice of moving back to the area once it has been redeveloped.

The Communities First organisation has also been helping the council to ensure people moving away from the area are able to maintain links with the local community if they wish.

Cllr Mark Pritchard, lead member for housing and planning, said: “I am very pleased that everything is going according to plan with the demolition and that the area will be returned to an acceptable standard until redevelopment work can take place.

“This will be subject to joint partnership arrangements and funding from the Welsh Assembly Government.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the residents who live near to the site for their patience during the demolition works and to assure them that work will progress as quickly as possible.”