Bradford has one of the poorest records in the North for empty housing - despite greenfield sites in the district being earmarked for thousands of new homes, it was revealed today.

In the first report of its kind, the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) reveals there are 10,266 long-term vacant properties in the district - more than in Manchester, Sheffield or Newcastle.

Only Leeds and Liverpool have a higher number of empty houses with 12,630 and 14,875 respectively.

The majority of the Bradford total, 8,354, are in the private sector. A further 1,510 are Council-owned - which equates to just over five per cent of local authority housing stock sitting empty. The remaining 362 are Housing Association properties.

The CPRE says the statistics are even more depressing because Bradford's Unitary Development Plan (UDP) has a proposed greenfield housing land allocation for around 3,000 new homes - included in 18,800 new homes reckoned to be needed up to the year 2006.

Local greenbelt campaigner Mike Hallam - one of the residents who fought plans to build 92 homes on greenfield land at Sandy Lane - agrees. He said: "The fact that a number of greenfield sites in the district have been earmarked for new housing when all these empty properties still exist is a real bone of contention."

Hamish Hay is a member of the Silsden Town Action Group which opposed plans to build 1,500 homes in the area. He said: "There are lots of empty homes in the district which are going to waste. Building on greenfield sites is taking the character out of towns like Silsden."

The CPRE blames the high levels of vacant housing in Bradford on the high cost of refurbishment, a decline in investment, problem estates and a lack of information for owners letting out vacant properties.

Cate Hammond, CPRE's northern region policy officer, said: "It's up to the local authority and the Government to work together on improving run-down areas. That's the only way people are going to be persuaded to take on these empty homes. Unfortunately the improvements will not happen overnight, but it is something which can certainly be addressed over the next decade."

But Councillor Jim O'Neill, chairman of Bradford Council's housing services sub-committee, said many of the empty Council properties cited by the CPRE were awaiting demolition.

He said: "There are 888, not 1,510 properties available for letting, which is 3.07 per cent of the housing stock. The Council is keen to see further reductions in empty homes and marketing campaigns to highlight good-quality homes on many estates are due to start in the New Year.

"It is also worth noting that it is not the Council which builds on greenbelt land but private developers."

He added that the Council is investing heavily in the local environment through the Single Regeneration Budget, Estate Action and New Deal schemes to make neighbourhoods more attractive.

Stuart Whyte, regional manager of Bradford and Northern Housing Association, said: "There has been a change in the market and that's something we're trying to address through advertising campaigns. Where tenancies were lasting for 15 years in the 80s, it's now more like 15 months."

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