MORE needs to be done to bring the hundreds of city homes that have been empty for years into use instead of building on green space, a councillor has said.

Councillor Louis Stephen will use this evening’s (February 18) full city council meeting to highlight the number of empty homes in the city and call for a big council tax hike for the owners who fail to bring their properties back into use.

If the call gets the backing of councillors, it could see the owners of homes that have been empty for more than five years forced to pay three times the amount of council tax.

There are 327 empty homes that have been empty for more than six months and 86 homes empty for more than two years. A total of 15 homes have been empty for more than five years and 13 homes have been vacant for more than a decade.

The council can already charge double the amount of council tax on homes empty for more than two years after changes in government legislation.

City councillors backed the plan to hit the owners of long-term empty homes last February and will again look at charging more council tax for empty homes tonight.

Cllr Stephen said it was important to publicise the issue of long-term empty homes and said whilst the city, and the county, needs more homes, it should be looking to bring empty homes back into use – as well as building on brownfield land and in the city centre – rather than paving over the city’s green space.

He said: “Building more homes on the edge of the city, particularly in places where there are poor public transport links, means more cars on the road and more traffic and congestion in the city centre.

“It’s important to highlight the number of empty homes there are in the city and we need to be encouraging the owners of empty homes to bring them back into use.

“We do need more homes, we do need more accommodation but we need positive suggestions that will provide more housing.”

Cllr Stephen said bringing empty homes back into use, particularly ‘eyesore’ homes left to decay, would also detract from the becoming a focal point for anti-social behaviour and squatting.

Empty properties can be reported via the Worcester City Council website.