A PENSIONER who had just heard that her home was to be demolished marched over to the planning committee chairman telling her: "I hope you never get old."
Bet Collins, 83, is the last resident left living at Burdwood House in Brighton Road, Lancing.
On Monday (June 30) Adur council's planning committee approved plans to demolish the sheltered housing complex and rebuild 20 new affordable flats on the site.
Mrs Collins, who has seen all her friends move out of Burdwood House, told the committee chairman Angie Mills: "I am the only resident left there. You are abusing our human rights. I am angry because I am having to give up my home."
Mrs Mills told her that she wasn't allowed to speak under the council rules.
The home's owner Rosemary Simmons Memorial Housing Association said the flats and bedsits had become uninhabitable and it had spent £10,000 in one month alone last year on emergency repairs to the dilapidated building.
Each of the residents has been offered one of the new apartments, which should be ready 18 months after the site has been cleared.
But a handful of them refused to leave. Former resident Betty Park, 86, was found dead in her chair in August, 2006, having died of an overdose at the home.She had written a suicide letter saying she could not face leaving.
The building will now be demolished and replaced with four one-bedroom flats for people with learning difficulties, a communal room and room for a scheme manager to sleep on site.
There would be 10 other one-bedroom flats and six two-bedroom flats for general housing needs. The development also includes two one-bedroom bungalows to the rear, earmarked for older residents.
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