Two Councillors from Peasedown St John are shocked at the recent admission from a Senior B&NES Councillor that he does not know, or even have a rough idea, of the number of empty properties in the authority.

Councillors Sarah Bevan and Nathan Hartley (Lib Dem, Peasedown) have been trying to tackle the housing problems in their ward for several months – but have received little help from Conservative controlled B&NES Council. 

Last November, Cllr Sarah Bevan gave a statement to a full meeting of the Council encouraging the Cabinet to do more to bring some of the boarded up properties in B&NES back into use. As an example, she used the successful initiative undertaken by Mendip District Council whereby landlords are offered not only grants, but also professional guidance on lettings, rent deposit schemes and private sector leasing.  

Cllr Bevan said: 

“There are currently 13 long-term empty properties in Peasedown St John alone. If B&NES Council were to adopt the same approach as our neighbours, these properties could be brought back into use which would be a great help in providing much needed social housing.” 

The admission came at last week’s Cabinet meeting when the Cabinet Member for Housing confessed to Cllr Nathan Hartley that he had no idea of the number of empty properties in the authority.  

After the meeting Cllr Hartley said: 

“There are currently 6,560 households on the Council social housing register with 100 new households joining the list every month. At the moment only 40-50 properties are becoming available a month. This simply isn’t good enough! Unless the Council takes drastic action the list will continue to grow. 

Further more, due to service cuts, the Empty Property Officer was removed from post a few years ago – causing the Council to take a step back, instead of a step forward.” 

Gail Coleshill, the Lib Dem spokesperson for North East Somerset, who has been an active voice against Government plans to build extra houses in the Green Belt, said: 

“If the Council can bring some of these empty properties back into use that would be a great help in tackling the local housing needs we have. Let’s first use some of these properties that already exist for new homes before we even think of building anymore.”