Homes in Stafford street 'have been empty for almost 20 years'
Three homes in a Stafford street have been empty for almost 20 years, a community leader has revealed.
The properties were in the ownership of Staffordshire County Council for many years because they were located on land earmarked for the construction of the Stafford Western Access Route.
The North Castle Street homes were later sold off but still remain vacant, Tony Pearce told fellow members of Stafford Borough Council during a recent meeting. Castletown and Virginia Park Residents Association has said the properties have been blighted by several arson attacks and has called on the authority for assistance.
A report on tackling empty homes revealed that seven properties had been brought back into use in the borough following officer interventions between October and December 2022 – below the target of 10. The report said: “The new Empty Homes Officer started in post in September following 12 months without an officer.
“Since starting, the Empty Homes Officer has undertaken training in Compulsory Purchase Orders, HHSRS (Housing Health and Safety Rating System) and has further training booked. She has spent time familiarizing herself with the role, carrying out site visits and responding to historically made complaints over the previous six months.
“The programme of works has now been restarted, with a proactive programme of work and ongoing reactive work. There is now a programme of engagement with the owners of empty homes and initial cases for targeted enforcement have been identified.”
Councillor Pearce said: “It’s good to see progress is being made. However, in the ward that I represent – in fact in the street where I live – there are four empty houses that have been empty for a substantial length of time, three of them getting on for 20 years.
“For most of that time (they have) been owned by the county council. I think it is an absolute disgrace they are allowed to remain empty for so long.
“They were sold off to the highest bidder through auction, which I think was an irresponsible way of disposing of them. The highest bidder turned out to be a property developer who (did) some minor work and now they’re up for sale again – nobody’s buying them because of the state they’re in.
“These houses have been set on fire over 20 times. The fire brigade has been called out on all of those occasions, the police have been involved, and it is an appalling situation.
“People live in a row of houses adjacent to these properties that are being set on fire. And it seems nothing is being done about it; our residents’ association are extremely concerned, as are the neighbours within that area.”
Councillor Jeremy Pert, cabinet member for communities, responded: “The county council owned the homes that are being discussed because they were on the original route of the Stafford Western Access Route. Once they started building the route they were able to release those homes.
“It sounds like the councillor is talking about a set of properties that are back up for sale, which should resolve themselves. As a council we’ve always been of the view that you want light touch regulation – and it is only when the policies and market isn’t working should we step in.
“Were we to step in and buy houses as a compulsory purchase that can take up to two years. You go round in very small circles and all you need is one person to object and you have to start all over again.
“Given these houses sound like they are up for sale, sounds like the market is doing its job. The fact is we’ve reduced the number of empty homes in the last four years by a third.”
