Empty Homes Officer Appointed

Wiltshire Council have appointed an Empty Homes Officer after a long Lib Dem Campaign. This new post will focus on getting the thousands of long-term empty homes in Wiltshire back onto the market. This officer should be able to immediately take some of the pressure off the desperate need for new housing in the County.

Jon Hubbard, Lib Dem Group leader, said "The first job has to be understanding the reasons why some of these properties have been empty for so long. The Officer can then make it as easy as possible for the owner to restore the home.

"Now Wiltshire will have a detailed database of the empty homes, and I expect the empty homes list to reduce significantly soon. That the Council doesn't already have a database shows exactly how useful this Officer will be.

"The Conservative Administration must hang their heads in shame that this post was not created earlier, and the problem has been allowed to fester. What's more, this isn't an extra spend for the taxpayer. Many other Councils make money from their Empty Homes officers, as they bring in new council tax."

If you'd like to report a long-term empty home to the new officer, Claire Pullan, contact 01249 706614 or Claire.pullan@wiltshire.gov.uk. Claire is based at Monkton Park in Chippenham.