National Empty Homes Week: Northumberland County Council's work to bring them back into residential use put in the spotlight

And the local authority is also appealing to anyone who owns or knows of a long-term empty property to get in touch.

It is an important issue given that affordable housing is in short supply. The Housing Services, Private Sector housing team has assisted in returning more than 300 empty properties back into use over the last five years.

Coun Colin Horncastle, cabinet member with responsibility for looking after our environment, said: “Properties are left empty for long periods of time, often getting into a state of disrepair and attracting anti-social behaviour, when they could be providing much needed accommodation to people living in Northumberland.

“Empty homes continue to be an issue in the county and National Empty Homes Week is an ideal opportunity to highlight the work that we are doing to address this problem.

“We know there is still more work that needs to be done and we will be continuing to identify other properties where we can offer help to provide these homes with a new lease of life.”

If you are an owner of an empty property, or if there is a long-term empty property in your neighbourhood, the council would like to hear from you to see if it can help.

You can get in touch by calling the private sector housing team on 0345 6006400 or emailing [email protected]

The local authority can offer a range of advice and assistance, including a free property accreditation scheme.