Sarah Carr highlights shocking number of empty homes in Herefordshire

2.58.57pm GMT Fri 15th Jan 2010

Sarah Carr, Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, has today highlighted shocking findings of a Liberal Democrat investigation into empty homes across the UK including 2458 empty properties in Herefordshire.

The figures were published as part of Liberal Democrat plans to bring a quarter of a million empty homes back into use across the UK. People who own these empty properties which are no longer used as homes will get a grant or a cheap loan to renovate them so they can be used: grants if the home is for social housing, loans for private use. The homes would be made available for people who need them creating 65,000 jobs across the UK.

Sarah Carr said,

"With over 5,000 people on the waiting list for social housing in Herefordshire, it is shocking that nearly two and a half thousand homes are lying empty and unused. The cost of bringing these homes back into use is just a fraction of the cost of building new ones yet the Government is sitting idly by while they fall into disrepair.

"These plans are a clear example of where Liberal Democrat priorities lie: creating jobs and providing more family homes. This is one element of our economic stimulus package that will generate jobs and help Britain on its way to building a fair, sustainable economy.

"Allowing thousands of houses to sit empty when millions of families have been waiting years for a home is nothing short of a scandal."

The housing plans form part of the economic stimulus package outlined as a core principle of the Liberal Democrat election manifesto. In the first year of the new Parliament, the party would redirect over £3.6bn of spending to create jobs and build up Britain's infrastructure. In the following years this money will be redirected to other Lib Dem spending priorities and reducing the structural deficit.