COUNCIL chiefs today declared a new blitz on tackling the blight of empty homes left to decay for months or even years.

Bradford Council is backing a campaign by the Empty Homes Agency to slash the number of unloved and neglected properties left to rot.

Today marks the start of Empty Homes Week, and the authority is calling on anyone with a derelict or empty property to come forward to see if they are eligible for help to bring it back into use.

Latest figures show there are 7,852 properties lying empty across the district.

While great strides have been made in bringing down the number of empty homes - the figure was topping 10,000 last year - the problem of long-term abandoned properties is proving a tough nut to crack.

The number of homes which have been empty for six months or more is currently 3,971, a slight fall on last year's figure of 3,981.

Councillor Val Slater, the executive member for housing on the Labour-led Council, said: "It has been one of my top priorities, ever since I took on my portfolio.

"We have done a lot in Bradford to deal with the number of empty homes, although it's a little bit like the Forth Bridge - you sort some out, then what happens is there is another set to deal with."

Cllr Slater said the problem "does blight areas", with derelict properties often attracting anti-social behaviour.

She said breathing new life into these homes would also help to keep development off green fields as much as possible.

She said: "People keep saying, 'Why do you have to build on green fields when there are all these empty homes?'

"It is not the only answer to the housing problem, but it does help."

Cllr Slater urged anyone who was struggling with an empty property to contact the authority to see if they could get help.

She said the Council had done a lot of work with individual owners to help them bring properties back into use, as well as backing larger schemes.

One of these larger projects was in St Mary’s Road, Manningham, where housing group Accent has transformed a derelict hospice into new family homes.

St Catherine’s Home had lain empty for years, but is now a mix of two, three and four bedroom houses and apartments for affordable rent.

The first families moved in back in August and all 16 homes are now filled.

The whole scheme cost £1.8 million, with funding coming from the Homes and Communities Agency, English Heritage and £100,000 from Bradford Council.

Accent project manager Ian Holmes said the building had been in an "absolutely shocking" state but was now completely transformed.

He said it was also having a knock-on effect on the wider area, as private landlords had been inspired to do up their properties too.

Bradford Council has a range of measures to try to bring empty homes back into use.

These include: - A dedicated team to identify empty homes and find the owners.

- Face-to-face advice and offers of equity loans to help people struggling to bring homes back into use.

- Identifying organisations, such as housing associations, able to take over and rent out homes.

- Threatening compulsory purchase where owners refuse to co-operate.

The Government has also given local authorities the power to charge up to 50 per cent extra Council Tax on properties which have been unoccupied and unfurnished for two years or more.

Between 2009 and 2013, 3,349 long-term empty homes were brought back into use across the district.

For the same period the Council received £19.9 million through the Government's New Homes Bonus scheme, as a reward for both empty homes brought back into use and new ones built.

Councillor Simon Cooke, deputy leader of the Conservative group on Bradford Council, said tackling empty homes was important for two reasons - firstly to combat the blight they caused to communities and secondly to prevent new houses having to be built elsewhere.

He said the problem had been one of Kris Hopkins' priorities when he had been leading the Council, and he was pleased to see these efforts had continued under its current leadership.

He said: "In general terms I think we have got a good track record on empty homes. We can still do more, I'm sure, and we will do all we can to push people to get empty homes back into use."

MORE SAVE OUR GREEN SPACES CAMPAIGN HEADLINES