Carlisle Green Party Chair says 'frustration' mounting over Castle ward empty homes

Prospective candidate for the Castle ward in Carlisle, Gavin Hawkton, said that residents in Carlisle's Castle ward are becoming "increasingly frustrated" with the number of empty houses on their streets.

The main concerns coming from residents, he added, are that the empty properties could attract anti-social behaviour and that they are becoming a "blight on communities".

"The number of empty houses has remained stubbornly high with over 1,000 properties lying empty, and the City Council needs to be much more proactive to work towards a solution," said Mr Hawkton, who is also the Carlisle Green Party Chair.

"This isn’t an issue that has appeared overnight.”

"At the moment there appears to be far more interest in building new houses and expanding the city and destroying our surrounding environment than looking after parts of our city that have been left behind."

The Carlisle Green and District Greens have said that they would like to see the a "much more proactive use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders and to work with self-help co-operatives to bring homes back into use and regenerate communities".

Carlisle City Council launched an initiative to reduce the issue of empty homes in the city by providing grants to landlords as a way of incentivising home improvements in 2019.

In November 2019 a letter went to owners who have properties that had been empty for over two years offering potential help in the form of a small grant. Carlisle City Council agreed to allocate £23,200 to this project.

The Green Party is calling for a much more proactive use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders and to work with self-help co-operatives to bring homes back into use and regenerate communities. 3/3#GreenParty #GreenFuture

— Carlisle and District Greens (@CarlisleGreens) December 15, 2021

However, Mr Hawkton does not believe that it has done enough.

He added: "I would like to see conditions put on these grants to ensure that homes are renovated with insulation and double glazing so that renters are provided with warm homes to live in. This will also help our drive towards net zero carbon emissions."

Carlisle City Councillor for Cathedral and Castle, Peter Sunter, said that the issue of empty homes is also a concern that has been raised to him.

He said: "It's something I spoke about when I was campaigning.

"It's something that I have noticed - that a lot of properties within the Cathedral and Castle [ward], especially on the Cathedral side are owned by landlords and are not always rented out."

On whether it could leave properties as targets for anti-social behaviour, Cllr Sunter added: "I do not know about properties being broken in to or misused in that way, but the anti social part of it for me is that somebody could be living there.

"There should be a reason for a property being empty, and if it is empty because the rent is too high or the cost of living is too high then something needs to be done."

One landlord, who owns a property in Castle ward himself, said the issue of empty homes in Carlisle is far more complex.

Crawford Johnson, who is also the Managing Director of letting agency CJ City Properties in Carlisle, said there is more to the issue of homes being left empty than simply landlords not doing enough work on the property.

In some cases, Mr Johnson said, homes are being left empty by owners who have moved to a retirement home - making the task of looking after the house or renting it out far more difficult - or they are caught in the process of rebate. 

Labour Carlisle City Councillor for Cathedral and Castle, Peter Sunter

"I have two empty properties at the moment, but both of them are under renovation.

"By empty properties, I take it to mean that they have not been left for some other reason than work needs to be done on them.

"I don't think there are very many empty properties in the city, unless some of them are caught up in probate, family members have been taken into care homes, or they are under renovation.

"These are all very relevant reasons why properties are empty as opposed to things being left to just rot."

"It's a lot more complex."

Prospective Castle ward candidate, Mr Hawkton, said the frustration with some houses being empty also lies with the idea that families could be moved into them instead of being left empty.

Again, Mr Johnson re-iterated that he thought there were perfectly relevant reasons as to why some houses in the city were currently empty.

He said: "It would be interesting to know what houses [Mr Hawkton] is referring to. Are they caught up with people in care homes? Are they caught up with properties in a state waiting for probate? Or are they just sat there rotting?

"We are not Kensington in London, where people buy houses to park money in the millions. We are in Cumbria, we are in Carlisle.

"I don't think there are many houses sitting around that aren't [facing] a problem."

Carlisle City Council said their 2019 housing grant scheme resulted in owners being awarded up to a maximum £3,000 towards making their long-term empty properties habitable during 2020.

These properties were to be made available for occupation at the six month point from the date of the grant funding being approved.

Originally the projected end date was 30 June 2020. However, the Covid-19 Pandemic resulted in a delay to the final completion dates.

The Council offered another Empty Homes grant this year and a further 18 empty home owners are supposedly benefitting from this offer.

The Council added that five additional applicants are currently being assessed.

Carlisle City Council's Portfolio holder for Economy, Enterprise and Housing, Paul Nedved

Carlisle City Council's Portfolio holder for Economy, Enterprise and Housing, Paul Nedved, said: "We take the issue of empty homes very seriously and have a dedicated Empty Homes Officer in place to tackle the problem.

"The annual empty homes data submitted this year showed a remarkable reduction of 35 per cent in empty homes in comparison to the 2020 submission.

"The reduction has been helped by various initiatives including a Council backed empty homes grant offer, enforcement activity and support given to owners through the disposal of properties.

"We focus on the properties have been empty for the longest time and are causing the most problems to the people who live in the local area. Our priority is to always to work with owners to help return properties back into occupation and resolve any issues impacting on the community."