'We'll be robust if we have to': Telford council takes action to bring hundreds of empty homes back into use
Homes that have been lying abandoned for as long as 20 years have been brought back into use in Telford, says a report to the borough council.
Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Telford & Wrekin Council says it is ahead of its target to bring a minimum of 375 long term empty properties back into residential use by June 2026.
A report to the council leadership for a meeting in January says so far 312 empty properties have been brought back into use with a range of tactics from helping the owners to using legal powers to force their reuse.
The report says three of the properties had been empty for longer than 20 years, 12 for longer than 10 years, 20 in excess of five years.
Officers at the council say that they only look at properties that have been empty for longer than six months and have revived 60 that had been empty longer than two years.
They say that the council's Empty Property Strategy as benefited the housing waiting lists, helped communities blighted by antisocial behaviour and private owners.
And there are more where those come from, as the report to a cabinet meeting on January 6 points out.
“The Empty Property Officer and Assistant currently have a caseload of 148 active, problematic, empty properties.
“These include 10 properties which have been empty for over 20 years, 14 for over 10 years and 39 for over five years,” the report reads.
“The strategy sets out a clear approach to how we will engage with owners ensuring we always provide support, advice and guidance wherever appropriate but also take robust enforcement action where informal action does not succeed,” the report adds.
The report to leading councillors asks them to re-affirm the strategy and the approach being taken.
It adds that since the last update in 2023 they have dealt with another 195 long term empty properties.
“We are currently tracking ahead of the target, and we remain ambitious to bring as many properties back into use as possible exceeding our target where possible, to benefit local residents.
“We have been engaging with beneficiaries of properties with owner deceased exemption.
“This class has no expiry date and properties in this category can remain empty for very long periods of time, which may lead them to attract anti-social behaviour.
“Recognising this can also be a difficult time the team have actively worked to support people to apply for probate which to date has resulted in 28 properties being brought back into use or now in probate.”
It adds that the alternative would be to do nothing, which would mean “hundreds of properties being left empty at a time of significant housing need and continuing to have a detrimental impact on our neighbourhoods and communities.”
The cabinet meeting will be held on Monday, January 6, 2025.
