Vacant homes number falling

THE number of long term vacant homes in Halton is continuing to fall according to the latest figures.

The Department For Communities And Local Government has released data for houses and flats in Runcorn and Widnes which have not been used for at least half a year.

Since hitting 1,030 empty homes for more than six months in 2009, the figure from the borough has continued to fall steadily over the following years.

The 445 vacant homes across the borough in 2016 is fewer than half the amount eight years ago.

The number is the lowest for long term empty homes out of the four local authority areas in Cheshire.

Cheshire West And Chester boasted the greatest number with 1,756, followed by Cheshire East which had 1,451 long term vacant homes last year, while neighbouring Warrington had 666 empty properties in 2016.

Across England, there were more than 200,000 homes that were empty long-term at the end of 2016 or one in every 119 properties in the country.

Within the Liverpool City Region specifically, Liverpool has the worst problem with long-term unoccupied properties, with one standing empty for every 64 homes in the area – 3,449 in total.

Wirral also had particularly high rates of vacant housing, with 2,014 homes remaining vacant in the area, or one in every 73 properties.

Meanwhile, St Helens had slightly less of a problem with filling empty homes within six months, although rates were still higher than the rest of the country.

There were 935 properties in the area that had been unoccupied for more than half a year, or one in every 87 homes.