Scandal of 900 empty Pendle homes
- David Penney
- Nov 13, 2024
- 2 min read
See this Report in BBC Article of 10th November 2024 at:
What a disgrace to have nearly 900 homes standing empty in Pendle when there is a crying need for affordable housing to buy and rent. What is the Council doing in response to this situation?
In order to meet the new housing targets set by the Government, Pendle's new homes target is 148 new dwellings per year, which would result in a total of just over 3,000 new homes by 2040. This is a lower target than the higher number that the new Labour government reportedly wants. However, there is flexibility, and a slightly higher target of 162 dwellings per year could be achieved.
In the Local Plan, they are identifying sites to build these new homes, which will tend to be too expensive for local people to buy or rent because Pendle has a historically low wage economy. Some new housing may have to located on greenfield sites away from town centres and accessible local services.
instead, the renewal of these empty properties to eco standards should be included in these targets for new homes.
Such a Policy would lift the blight on our town centres and help towards social and economic regeneration of deprived urban areas.
SELRAP has identified this Policy which the SELRAP Scheme would encourage generate since a lot of these empty properties are near and accessible by foot to rail and bus public services. Residents would not require a car as they easily access local services and leisure facilities as well as and education and training opportunities and jobs further afield which would be created in industries along the the route of the reopened railway.