As recently as the 12th July we published a news story reporting that the moves to encourage wholesale conversion of redundant commercial premises to housing had "ended with a whimper". The original bold (not to say wild?) proposal had been whittled down to allowing the conversion of space above retail premises in A1/A2 use classes to two flats without planning permission, instead of one as at present.
Then, on 1st September, in what seemed to be a non-story of epic proportions, Eric Pickles "announced" that he had approved this very measure (although it had already been announced in the government's...
David Ireland of the charity Empty Homes tells us that he has had contact with a senior source at CLG....
There are still places available to authorities both inside and outside London at The London Empty Property Officer Forum, to...
The Stoke-on-Trent proposal to sell surplus houses to low-paid working people for £1 has now been given the go-ahead by...
Charity Hope Into Action has interviewd Peterborough City Council's Empty Homes Officer Adam Cliff about his work and you can see the video on their website here.
Hope Into Action are based in the Cambridge/Peterborough area and specialise in housing and support for ex-offenders and other vulnerable peole. Their website states they have recently won grant to enable two empty homes to be brought back into use.
The Camden FOI case continues to rumble on.
This was a case where the London Borough of Camden had refused...
It's sometimes interesting to see what goes on in other parts of the world around empty homes.
The story reported...
The CML publish 'Market Commentaries" on their website and via e-mail if you sign up to them.
If you want...
After last year's bold claims that removing the need for planning permission for conversion of commercial properties to residential could...
The new Groups feature of our website, introduced earlier this year, is slowly starting to provide the benefits that we...
The Post-of-the-Month Award for March goes to Lynne Campbell of South Lakeland District Council for her blog, Life in the Lakes. It's great that Lynne has stuck her head above the parapet and offered us - and anyone else who encounters our website - an insight into the issues that confront empty homes practitioners day-to-day, whether practical or strategic.
The award is not for any particular blog entry (though these may indeed deserve individual awards) but for the fact that she has made the decision to blog in the first place. We hope that this will inspire other practitioners to...
Our programme of rewarding the best posts on the website have fallen somewhat behind - but nor have they been...
We have nearly filled one session of the Mental Capacity Training running in London on June 26th but we now...
The 2012 Empty Homes Practitioner of the Year Award, sponsored by Grafton (UK) Ltd. was won this year by Keith...
