You may remember that I've been banging on for a while about the absence of any clear strategy or resource from the Labour Council to deal with the huge number of empty homes in Reading The figures is disputed but currently runs into hundreds of private houses across the borough which could become much needed homes
This issue makes me sick when, as I've said before, one of the main housing issues in Redlands is the tragedy of young families living in overcrowded accomodation. The house on the corner of Christchurch Road and Kendrick Road characterises the problem: a large house, in the middle of a conservation area and at the heart of a local community, empty for at least 5 years and left to rot, while the owner is allowed to forget about his responsibilities to the local area, and concentrate on more profitable developments elsewhere in the town.
With the support of the brilliant David Ireland, Chief Executive of the Empty Homes Agency ,I have been campaigning on this issue in Focus and in the local press since 2006.
When the Lib Dems put the issue on the agenda at a Council meeting in October last year the Leader of the Council bragged that Labour's empty homes policy had previously 'won an award from the EHA''. I was intrigued by this and went on a hunt for this accolade.
I recently found the plaque tucked away, gathering dust on a wall outside the Council Chamber. When I asked to see the actual policy I was told by officers first of all that no such policy existed and later that it would have to be dug out from the Council's archives!
Things were looking more hopeful last year when the LIb Dem motion to Council calling for action on empty homes in Reading was passed. A senior Labour councillor promised at a meeting that a 'revised' empty homes policy would be part of the Cabinet agenda early in the New Year. I have to say I was doubtful as the Labour Council is forever producing strategies which are not backed up by any kind of resources i.e. they often end up being a lot of hot air.
Well. It's mid January now, and I have been getting a bit frustrated not having heard anything from the Council about the promised e**** h**** p***** so earlier this week I contacted the most senior officer in housing and asked her what was going on.She told me that the Cabinet meeting where the new policy was due to be tabled had been cancelled!
I've asked for an urgent meeting to try and move things on a bit. It's disappointing but sadly not surprising that once again it was left to the Lib Dems to raise it.
You can be sure that even if Labour politicians are not prepared to do anything about the hundreds of homes lying empty in Reading, the Lib Dems will continue to campaign on this issue until something is done about it.
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