Wrexham Council sees ‘nearly 50%’ reduction in empty housing voids, investing £11m in refurbishment

Wrexham Council have said they have seen its number of empty houses reduce by nearly 50% over the last 2 years, saying “we currently have only 1% per cent of our stock vacant, while the void refurbishment works are taking place between contract holders”.

Wrexham Council is one of the largest stock retaining local authorities in Wales, at November 2023 the Council’s housing stock consisted of 11,071 properties, so although no specific figures have been given, 1% would equate to around 110 homes.

For context a report last year noted 300 properties under repair in December 2022, and in December 2020 that was 525.

The council said, “Each year, we expect that between 600-700 properties become void, which are then assigned to either our DLO or external contractors to complete the remedial works. This is an average figure based on previous years.

“The department has invested significantly into the refurbishment of empty property over the last 6 – 7 years, and this has really helped with the turnaround times of our empty property refurbishment programme. This year, a further £11 million will be invested into empty properties, and these will be completed using a combination of our in house DLO and external contractors.

“This current financial year, sees Wrexham Council change the vision slightly on our refurbishment programme. The demands to meet the new Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS 2023) and the Net Zero plans of the future, prove to be a huge challenge in the current financial climate.

“Occasionally, throughout the year, using Optimised Retrofit Programme (ORP funding), a small amount of properties have received a full retrofit refurbishment as part of a pilot scheme. These are works carried out to reduce the carbon footprint of the dwelling, additionally, these pilot schemes will help our contract holders with reduced energy costs due to the increased energy efficiency of the converted property.

“In the last year we have completed 10 properties of this kind, and we anticipate to increase these figures year on year, however, this will be subject to funding.

Councillor David A Bithell Lead Member for Housing, who has previously spoken about his ambitions for progress in this area, added, “We are continuing to work on our void properties to bring them up to the new Welsh Housing Quality Standard.

“I am pleased that despite the financial challenges we have managed to reduce our empty properties stock by nearly 50%.

“The retrofit refurbishment is useful for our contract holders as it can reduce energy cost and increase the energy efficiency of their property, however future refurbishments will depend on funding.”