PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
EMPTY PROPERTY STRATEGY (16 May 2000)

That this House deplores the waste of over 770,000 empty homes in England, over 250,000 of which have been empty for a year or more; notes that these wasted homes exist across the whole country; also notes that long-term empty housing and wasted buildings attract crime, vandalism, anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping, blight local communities, deny homes to those in housing need and increase pressure for new development on greenfields; calls upon the Government to make it a statutory duty for every local authority to develop, publish and put into practice an empty property strategy setting clear targets and plans for tackling empty homes and wasted property across all tenures within their area; further notes that in line with estimates from the Empty Homes Agency, fewer than 200 of the over 350 local authorities in England have such a strategy in place, despite recent encouragement from this and previous governments; and believes that local residents in those areas not covered by an empty property strategy are being denied an appropriate quality of life and proper action on empty homes, with the result that there is a negative effect in their communities.

Sponsored by:
Mr David Kidney (Labour)