Council criticised over estate's empty homes

5:34pm Thursday 18th September 2008

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A HOUSING estate demolition is being badly managed, it has been claimed.

Chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency charity David Ireland made the comments after expressing frustration at the number of empty houses in Greenwich borough.

He says it has the third highest number of empty homes in London with, 4,269 empty, an average of 4.35 per cent of homes.

Mr Ireland told News Shopper he was disappointed that 900 properties on the Ferrier Estate in Kidbrooke are being left empty when the council has 378 families living in temporary accomodation.

Greenwich Council is planning to demolish and rebuild the estate over the next 10 years and has been moving out residents block by block since 2004.

Mr Ireland said: "My frustration in Greenwich is the number of council-owned properties that are empty.

"The long-term view is sensible - that the Ferrier Estate needs to be rebuilt. What I have a problem with is the process of getting there."

Mr Ireland says and the estate is now the second largest single concentration of empty homes in the country, the largest being in Liverpool.

He claims the council should be allowing those who need somewhere to live a short-term contract for the Ferrier flats.

Mr Ireland said: "They could almost resolve their housing situation with the properties they've already got. It's been handled very badly.

"They should move the long-term residents out and move short-term residents in.

"That's what they should have done in the first place but they didn't and it's a big mess.

"There have been other councils which have managed to demolish and rebuild without so many vacant properties."

A council spokesman said: "Homes in later phases of the scheme have been used as temporary accommodation to assist homeless households.

"The council now no longer requires properties on the estate for homeless households as it is on track to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in the number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation by 2009, a year ahead of Government targets."