Calls to act on 14,000 empty houses across Norfolk

12.00.00am GMT Thu 14th Jan 2010

The Liberal Democrats have revealed plans today to bring a quarter of a million empty homes back into use, making homes available for people who need them and creating 65,000 jobs. There are nearly 14,000 empty properties across Norfolk, and over 760,000 across England, which are no longer used as homes. Under the Lib Dem plans, people who own these 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.

Nearly 7,000 families are on the waiting list for housing in Norwich while nearly half that number of houses, 3392, are sitting empty.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today launched the plans with Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable and Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister, Sarah Teather.

Simon Wright, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Norwich South, said:

"There are thousands of families waiting for homes across Norfolk. The number of empty homes in Norwich alone could house around half of the people waiting for housing in the city. Its ludicrous that so many properties are sitting empty and unused when there is such demand.

"We've also seen big plans in Norfolk from developers for new housing projects, but we're still not making use of many of the properties that we already have locally.

"The plans brought forward by the Lib Dems will provide more homes for families by making better use of the houses we already have. Crucially, these plans will also create new jobs.

"It makes financial sense to bring these homes back into use. It's much cheaper to bring an existing house into re-use than it is to build new. However, some properties have been left empty for years and the longer that these properties are left empty, the more it will cost to bring them into use. That's why its important to bring forward measures such as these that will encourage investment in existing housing stock."

The 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.