The eagle-eyed amongst our readers may have seen me on Meridian TV last week talking about the problem of empty homes in Reading. If you want to you can watch the very short clip here.
I have David Ireland, Chief Executive of the campaigning charity the Empty Homes Agency ,to thank for this piece as he recommended me to the producer of the news programme.
It was also David who called and left a message on my answerphone all those years ago (in 2006) alerting me to the scale of the problem in Reading. This was the prompt I needed to get stuck into this issue.
I am and continue to be very grateful to him for all his hard work in this area. I am also grateful to the local residents I have spoken to over the last few years who have pressed me to keep the campaign going in the face of Labour apathy.
I'm glad to say the Labour government is finally to the EHA, as this press release issued by the Department for Communities & Local government shows.
Some key facts about empty homes in Reading (taken from the background report tabled at last week's Scrutiny meeting):
- According to latest Council statistics (taken from Council Tax and other records) there are around 300 long-term empty privately-owned properties in Reading (i.e. empty for more than 6 months)
- Of these there are around 11 'priority' empty homes in Reading either in prominent areas or causing anti-social behaviour
- Reading’s percentage housing stock that is empty (3.46% in 2007) is higher than figures
for England (3.02%) and the South East (2.35%). - Empty homes are most common in parts of the town with high density of private rented housing
- There are empty properties across Reading, but the wards with the highest numbers of empty homes are currently Southcote (79), Abbey (55), Battle (39) Park (39), Katesgrove (31), Redlands (30)and Minster (30).
Following our discussion last week at HHCC Scrutiny Panel on the subject of empty homes in Reading, I am pleased to say at long last I have some good news about two long term empty properties in the ward.
These two properties, Alexandra House on London Road (corner of Fatherson Road) and 35 Christchurch Road (on the corner of Kendrick Road), have stood empty for many years and as such are two of the most prominent empty properties in Redlands. I wrote about my battles to bring these back into use in December. You can read more background to our local campaign here: http://www.redlandslibdems/emptyhomes
Thanks in large part to the efforts of the Council's indefatigable empty homes officer, these two properties are slowly, but surely, being brought back into use. I have listed the latest news below :
Alexandra House
Officers have contacted me to report that significant internal works have been carried out since their last visit (though you wouldn't know it from the outside). The agent advised officers that they were aiming to complete works by the Autumn, but the cold winter has put them back by a couple of months.
Officers from Building Control and Planning are also on the case checking works and compliance with Planning conditions.
35 Christchurch Road
Following discussions between the new empty homes officer and the agent, work began in February to bring this property back into use. Works are expected to be completed by the end of May. Officers anticipate a further 6 weeks for gas fitting, final decoration etc. Officers from Building Control will be monitoring the works to check it is up to standard.
As we said at the time, when the Council's Labour administration caved in and agreed to a new empty homes strategy , a strategy alone is not enough: resources of time etc are needed to make things happen.
The two small pieces of work I've outlined above show what can be achieved if the necessary officer time is available to to be dedicated to this sometimes slow, often painstaking work.
There is no doubt that the extra resource the Council has belatedly attached to this important work has speeded up the process of bringing empty homes back into use. So far, the Council's energetic empty homes officer has made contact with an incredible 90 owners since August 2008!
However, the Council has a number of legal powers to help this process but has so far been slow about using them. This continues the theme of the need for more effective enforcement activity which Reading Lib Dems have been campaigning for, for some time.
If landlords refuse to co-operate the Council must consider taking out an empty dwelling management order (EDMO).
EDMOs allow local authorities to take over the management, not the ownership, of a property. The guidance shows that even the threat of an EDMO can have a significant impact on encouraging owners to work with councils to bring homes back into use.
To be clear, the impact on a neighbourhood level of restoring these properties - reducing anti-social behaviour, restoring pride in the local area and providing much needed homes for local people - is huge.
The long-term positive impact that this vital work could have on the whole of Reading, therefore, is potentially massive in my view.
In a recession, the number of empty properties in Reading is sadly expected to grow. It is vital that the Council works energetically with landlords to make sure these properties can be used as homes for those that need them.
It can be done: in Lib-Dem controlled Brent Council, 88 homes have been brought back into use already.
As you can probably tell, I am passionate about this issue and will continue to devote energy into making sure the Labour-run Council is more proactive towards dealing with this problem in future. If you wish to report a long term empty home in Reading or would like more information please do get in touch with me redlandslibdems@hotmail.co.uk
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