BRADFORD has almost 4,000 properties classed as “long-term empty homes”, the highest figure anywhere in West Yorkshire, new research has revealed.

According to data collated by the BBC, there were 3,944 empty homes across the district at the end of 2016, ahead of Leeds with 2,574. Kirklees was identified as having 1,932 properties, ahead of Wakefield with 1,666, and Calderdale with 1,439.

Bradford also had the highest number of empty homes per 100 people of population, with its figure of 0.76 higher than Calderdale at 0.69, Wakefield at 0.49, Kirklees at 0.44, and Leeds at 0.33.

With 10.78 empty homes per sq km, the district also came out more than twice as high as Wakefield with 4.91, followed by Kirklees with 4.72, Leeds at 4.66, and Calderdale at 3.95.

The number of empty properties in Bradford is on the decline however, with 2016’s figure down five per cent from 4,154 in 2015.

The drop was higher than Leeds, which saw a decrease of four per cent, and Wakefield, which saw the number of empty homes rise by five per cent last year.

From 2010 to 2016, the period covered by the new research, the number of long-term empty homes in Bradford - classified as those that have been unoccupied for six months or more - fell by almost a third, 31 per cent, from 5,757 to 3,944.

The fall was still the lowest across the county over the seven-year period, with Calderdale seeing a reduction of 39 per cent, Leeds 41 per cent, Wakefield 42 per cent, and Kirklees 48 per cent.

Across West Yorkshire as a whole, there were 11,555 homes classified as long-term empty last year - down six per cent from 12,292 in 2015 - with the overall total falling 39 per cent from 2010 to 2016.

Bradford Council said it had employed a number of different approaches since 2010 to reduce its empty housing stock as part of its Empty Homes Action Plan, “significantly closing” the gap between itself and other neighbouring authorities.

A Council spokesman said: “A dedicated Council-based team advises empty property owners about their options, signposting them to services that can provide tenants or access to potential buyers.

“We have provided targeted financial support to bring empty properties back into use via empty property loans or financial assistance in limited circumstances.

“A programme of voluntary acquisitions by the Council has been used with conditions attached that properties are brought back into use within a reasonable time. We have worked with partners to renovate formerly empty properties to help them bring these back into use.

“Charging of a higher rate of Council Tax on properties that have been empty for more than two years has encouraged empty property owners to either sell or bring the property back into use.

“This work has contributed to significantly closing the gap between the proportion of empty properties in Bradford and other local authorities in West Yorkshire.”

In Wednesday’s budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond granted new powers to local authorities allowing them to charge 100 per cent council tax premium on empty properties, twice the previous maximum levy of 50 per cent.

There was also a promise to enhance compulsory purchase powers of land banked by developers for financial reasons, alongside a wider £44bn pledge in overall government support for housing.

Asked what impact the 100 per cent council tax premium may have, a Council spokesman said: “The Council has charged 50 per cent premium on top of existing Council Tax on properties that have been vacant for more than two years and we believe this has contributed to owners of empty properties deciding to bring their properties back in to use. We would need to look into this new option of charging the 100 per cent Council Tax premium.”

The Council said that the number of people on the open housing register was 12,377, of whom 3,882 had been assessed as in the greatest need.

The authority’s biggest social housing landlord is Incommunities, but a spokesman said of the nearly 4,000 long-term empty properties, it was responsible for only 14 of them.

The spokesman said: “We take a proactive approach to quickly re-letting available properties for rent and have just 14 available homes that have been empty for six months or more. Four of these are due to be let to customers shortly. We have some empty properties in blocks and schemes that are due to be redeveloped for new affordable housing. As a result these are not available for let.”

One of the more prominent empty housing sites in Bradford in recent times has been Fairmount, off North Park Road in Manningham, originally a row of six large terraced houses dating back to the 1850s.

The houses appeared fully derelict in 2014, with all windows boarded up, but one ward councillor said while the site had lain empty for some time, its owner was trying to take steps to bring it back into use.

Councillor Shabir Hussain (Lab, Manningham) said: “The owner has done some work such as putting a new roof on, but I think some things have been vandalised in the process. I am not sure what the plans are, but there is renovation work going on. It looks a lot cleaner there than it was.

“They are lovely properties but they have been empty for a while. It would be good to get new people or businesses in there.There are so many properties across Bradford that need doing up, but it is expensive to do.”