Whilst the Conservative goverment at Westminster removed empty homes from the policy landscape in the wake of the 2015 General Election (following the complete absence of the issue from the Tory election manifesto) the issue is alive and kicking amongst Scottish Conservatives. Partly no doubt thanks to Shelter Scotland's successful Empty Homes Partnership, there seems to be a a broad-based, cross-party consensus about the need for central (in this case, Scottish) government to play its part. So the Scottish Conservative manifesto for the forthcoming local elections features the following pledges:
Upgrading Existing Properties
Building new homes, however, can only be a part of the solution. We know there are around 34,000 empty homes across Scotland, over double the number of new houses built last year. A mixture of new incentives and stronger regulation should be introduced to bring these properties back into use. We will continue arguing for a Help to Rebuild scheme to be introduced in Scotland, which could bring together disparate grant schemes under one easily accessible umbrella programme. We would also want to encourage empty business premises being turned into affordable housing as well as "Home on the Farm" schemes helping farmers convert empty buildings into housing.
On the regulatory side, it seems clear to us that forcing a sale of a long-term empty property, where there is an unknown or uncooperative landlord, should be an option available to councils as a matter of last resort. We'd like to see new guidance on Compulsory Purchase Orders for single dwellings issued to speed up the process for councils. Furthermore, Compulsory Sale Orders for domestic properties should also be introduced, which would force an empty property onto the open market if all other options have been exhausted.
This augurs well for renewed attention to the issue amongst English Conservatives.