Carmarthenshire Council brings empty properties back into use
More than 500 empty properties have been brought back into use in Carmarthenshire over the last five years – 135 of them in the last year alone. The figures have been revealed as part of a special report compiled by a task and finish group, made up of six members of the county council’s Community Scrutiny Committee . The group, chaired by Cllr Deryk Cundy, looked in-depth at the scale of the issue, what the council’s housing department is doing currently to address it, and at ideas for tackling the problem in the future. Carmarthenshire County Council has been at the forefront of bringing empty homes back into use in recent years, becoming one of the first local authorities in Wales to employ a dedicated empty homes officer. It was also the first to use Empty Dwelling Management Orders to force action on problem properties. More recently, with the launch of the Welsh Government’s Houses into Homes scheme in 2012, it has helped owners to renovate empty properties and bring them bac...