Redlands Liberal Democrats

Empty homes in Reading- chance to have your say!

Last night the Council's Cabinet approved the draft empty homes strategy 2008-2011. A public consultation has now been launched which is open until 31 May.  Read the strategy and have your say online.

Empty homes strategy - action one step closer

The Evening Post has covered our campaign victory on empty homes today.Reading Borough Council's empty homes strategy should be rubber stamped at Cabinet this evening.

The public consultation on the draft strategy starts tomorrow and lasts until 31 May 2008, after which the strategy will go to full Council for approval later this year.

I will post a link to the consultation here tomorrow - please do have your say!

Overall, the new strategy looks very good and is a testament to the work put in by a number of officers at RBC. I am slightly concerned however, that the Council has set aside enough resources to tackle the problem. Bringing empty private properties back into use will need input from several Council departments, many of whom (such as Planning Enforcement and Legal Services) are already overstretched. This could lead to delays in action being taken and the Lib Dems will be monitoring the Council's performance on this area very closely. 

I would also like to see the strategy attach more weight to empty homes in ir adjacent to Conservation areas, as it is these properties often exert an even greater negative impact on local areas. The empty property on Christchurch Road, corner of Kendrick Road is a case in point.

Labour cave into Lib Dem pressure for action on empty homes

Daisy and Glenn Christchurch Road, originally uploaded by cllrdaisybenson.

Last month I blogged about how we were still waiting for action on empty homes by Reading Borough Council. The motion we put forward was passed in October 2007, so as you can imagine we were getting a bit fed up of waiting and constituents were starting to question further the Council's comittment to doing something about this problem.

As recently as last July,Yvette Cooper, then Labour Housing Minister said in the House of Commons:

"Local councils should think carefully about using some of their empty homes powers to bring some of those properties back into use. They have the powers to do so, but we are looking at more incentives as part of the Green Paper to support that."

You wonder why then the government saw fit to remove the duty on Councils to be judged on the number of empty homes it brings back into use as part of the national indicator set by which local authority performance is assessed. There is no doubt that where there is no duty to report to Whitehall or target to be reached local councils will focus their attentions elsewhere - because their funding largely depends on meeting nationally-set targets, rightly or wrongly. You can see this in social housing sector where the number of 'void' properties is measured by government inspectors every year as part of the Council's overall performance.

Key facts and figures on empty homes in Reading

• There are an estimated 91 empty private sector properties in Reading (source: RBC)
• The majority of such properties are to be found in the town centre (29 in Abbey ward)
• There are currently 5 properties which are considered long-term empty properties in Redlands ward i.e. unoccupied for more than 6 months
• Other wards with high levels of empty properties include Minister (11) and Katesgrove (9)

An Empty Homes Strategy for Reading

Today the Council has got round to launching it's long-awaited empty homes strategy. The new strategy will be debated next month at Cabinet and It will be on the Council's website shortly. I'll post a link when I find one.

I had a meeting with one of the Council's lead officers a few weeks ago to discuss the Council's new draft empty homes strategy. Under the new policy, empty properties which are reported to the Council will be assesssed against the 'Empty Homes Matrix. The matrix takes into account specific factors about the property including the location e.g. situated on a gateway route to Reading or area of significant depravation in the Town Centre; engagement with the owner; management standard; impact upon neighbouring properties. I suggested to officers that empty properties in or on the edge of Conservation areas (like Christchurch Road which borders two!)should also be given priority.

As part of the strategy an officer will have responsiblity for co-ordinating the Council's work on empty homes. We lobbied for this as it is officer time to devote to these often time-consuming issues which has been so lacking recent years.

Also, bringing empty properties back into use requires liaison with various Council departments such as planning, environmental health and housing so it will need someone with the time to join the dots. My campaign to get Alexandra House on London Road brought back into use was a case in point as this project involved several different agencies including the Police, the Council and the Fire Service.

Why private sector housing matters

In Reading, Owner-occupied i.e. private housing accounts for 62% of all housing stock in the town, with private rented accomodation comprising a whopping 20% (which is well above average compared to other towns).

Although Reading Borough Council is denerally well regarded as a social landlord overall, it's worth remembering that local authority-controlled social housing in Reading only accounts for a mere 12 % of housing stock. The Lib Dems in Reading would like to see the Council do more to tackle issues in the private sector such as "buy to leave" properties, HMOs, empty homes and fuel poverty.

A survey of the sector carried out last year found that housing the highest levels of non-decency (disrepair) in housing in Reading are in the pre 1919 properties, the private rented sector and self-contained converted flats. The government's decent homes agenda which aims to ensure that all social housing is brought up to a good standard by 2010 is to be welcomed, but I would like to see Council's powers extended to ensure that tenants and residents in private homes are also helped to live in decent homes.

Sadly the problem of empty homes does not only affect the private housing market. As Gareth's campaign to help residents of Townsend House in Katesgrove showed, registered social landlords can be even more difficult to press into action.

What next  for the Lib Dem campaign on empty homes?

Well that's more than enough on the policy background. The proof in the strategy is in the action that comes out of it, and if it doesn't work we will investigate why and take this up directly with Council officers. No strategy is a panacea for all ills, after all.

he Lib Dems in Reading will continue to focus on highlighting those empty homes that are attracting anti-social behaviour, or that are an eyesore and doing our best to get the Council should bring back into use.

On a ward level I will be pressing the Council to put words into action and get the landlord of 35 Christchurch Road to bring his property back into use as I know this issue is very important to my constituents living in this area.

Please let me know of any longstanding empty properties in your area and we will happily investigate what can be done about them.

Whatever happened to...Labour's Empty Homes Policy?

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.

Another planning application for 14 flats...

I've been very busy for the past few weeks helping residents respond to a planning application for 14 flats on the site of a former guest house, 46 Redlands Road, on the corner of Allcroft Rd.

In my limited experience 14 seems to be the 'magic' number for developers in Reading. This is because it is the threshold for affordable housing: if they plan to build any more than 14 flats and developers must incorporate an affordable element into their plans. This obviously means the developer makes less money, so they don't want to do it.

This makes me angry. The pressure on housing in Reading is intense - don't get me started on the number of empty homes there are in Reading, which I've campaigned and blogged extensively about.

Rarely a week goes by without a young person or a parent contacting me desperate to move out of overcrowded accomodation. It's easily one of the biggest and most serious issues in my ward, if not the whole of Reading. Usually people who get in touch cannot afford to access the private housing market and are stuck on the Council's huge housing waiting list. The individual cases are heart-rending and I just wish I could do more to help them. It's a national problem and Shelter is running an excellent campaign nationally to highlight this issue. 

To get on my soap box for a second...In my view, we don't need more executive rabbit-hutches in Reading and we should resist attempts to turn Reading into a place dominated by high-rise flats. New developments must help to build vibrant communities for people, not estate agents, and be places for all kinds of people, not just those who can afford it.

Reading Borough Council is particularly short of 3-4 bed family homes after a large number were sold off under the Tories. Lib Dems want to see Councils enabled to build more social housing . Ming called for 1 million more social and low cost homes to be built in the next decade. Labour has failed to deliver on its housing promises and the number of people on Council housing waitings lists has grown by 67% since 1997.

Anyway, rant over. The proposed development at Redlands Road  is poorly designed and totally out of character for the Allcroft Road area.We need more housing, but housing that's appropriate for local areas. Residents wishing to view the plans should go online to the Council's public access for planning website and get their comments in to antonia.liu@reading.gov.uk by 31 Jan.

Empty Homes - National Week of Action 3-7 December

The Empty Homes Agency, a great campaigning charity which campaigns to reduce the number of empty homes in the UK launched its National Week of Action this week. I used this as an opportunity to highlight the issue in Reading and ask the question why, two months after Reading Borough Council approved the Lib Dem motion calling for action on empty homes why has nothing happened?

In Redlands, almost 5 years on, the prominent house on Christchurch Road is still empty. Across Reading, hundreds of potential homes lie empty while the Council sits on its hands. Cllr Gareth Epps highlighted one such property recently in Katesgrove which could house 30 people.

I will continue embarassing Reading Borough Council about their failure to resource an empty homes strategy until they do something about it!

A busy month so far...

I'm sorry not to have posted anything for few weeks, November has proved to be very busy indeed.

On November 7 I met with council officers to discuss the growing problem of empty homes. This has been one of my main campaign issues since getting elected. Earlier in the year we highlighted a number of problem empty properties such as Alexandra House on London Road and a large house  in a prominent position on the corner of Kendrick Road and Christchurch Road. These properties have been empty for some time and as well as as attracting anti-social behaviour, they are also a wasted opportunity to provide local people with new homes. I'm pleased to say that after pressure from the Lib Dems the Council has finally recognised the need to take action in this area, and we hope new policies to come on stream early next year.

Measures to reduce crime in South and East Reading have also been high up my agenda this month. I attended the South Forum Safer Forum where I am pleased to say that my bid for better lighting on Lancaster Close has been agreed Download db_lancaster_close_lighting_streetletter_15_november_2007.doc .

Residents living in this area have suffered repeatedly from burglaries and graffiti and action was needed. I was shocked to discover that RBC has no specific budget for lighting per se and that lighting bids can only be justified if crime figures support them. Far from ideal and definitely something the Lib Dems will continue to campaign on in the future.

The East Reading Safer Forum focused on problems around nuisance drinking on the edge of the town centre. Labour councillors are keen to introduce street drinking bans in problem areas. This is a gesture - I don't think the Police have enough officers to resource this type of thing. Far better to tackle the problem premises with existing powers open to Councils.

Sadly since the government relaxed the licensing laws, some licenses had been approved in previous years without (in my view) adequate consultation with local people who have to live with the effects. The 24 hour license for the Murco Garage is an example of this. Interestingly, Gordon Brown recently signalled a u-turn on this issue: he is to review the impacts of 24 hour drinking and the impact of the reform of licensing legislation in 2005. I am concerned about the cheap availability of alcohol in supermarkets in particular to children. Tesco has got in to trouble over this recently.

Redlands Update - September

University Hotel Application

We're sorry to say that the Planning Applications Committee earlier this month approved the proposed Hotel development on the Whiteknight's campus, in the face of strong arguments put by Daisy and by local residents. Kirsten, who is a member of the Committee, spoke and voted against it -the only member to do so. It really is not acceptable that the University is going ahead with this development, which eats into precious green space, increases traffic and overflow parking. We couldn't believe that Labour and the Conservatives actually supported it.

The Evening Post reported the discussions.

Cardigan Road, Cardigan Gardens and Foxhill Rd

The combination of alternate weekly collections and a new one way system led to rubbish being uncollected for a month over the summer. Daisy led the charge to get this fixed. The Council will shortly be consulting on measures to make the corners "no parking", which may make it easier for larger vehicles to pass round but does reduce the available parking space.

 
 
 
 
   

The Evening Post reported Kirsten explaining the situation to the Council's TMAP commitee. The Chronicle reported Daisy's campaign against unreliable bin collections and the way the Council deals with complaints.

Empty Homes

There are still too many empty homes in Reading. It seems unbelievable that open spaces are being built on when there are a number of buildings which could be redeveloped in the area.

 

Daisy and Gareth have long campaigned on this issue, as is discussed in this Reading Chronicle article.

Eldon Square Gardens

And finally some good news, after a long fight, the George V gardens in Eldon Square will be restored to their original condition. This is something Daisy has long campaigned for, and in fact was one of the first things she campaigned on in the area. We want to see ongoing funding to keep this precious listed park in pristine condition.

Empty homes

Joe inspects a now-derelict building in Redlands