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4,213 Long Term Empty Homes Could Help Meet Local Housing Need
Bringing long term empty homes back into occupancy would help meet Hertfordshire’s local housing need, and it would also help protect the countryside from unnecessary development.
The latest Council data reveals there are 4,213 long-term empty, unused houses across Hertfordshire. This is an increase of 8.4% over last year’s figure of 3,885.
The charity Action on Empty Homes has analysed Council Taxbase data released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 13 November 2024. We have taken a look at the figures for the ten Districts and Boroughs in Hertfordshire; to be clear, we have no means of independently confirming the data, it is simply what the Councils themselves have reported to the Government.
And the figures on empty homes in our county are eye-catching. Total housing stock across all ten districts in Hertfordshire stands at 517,953. The district with the most long term empty homes is Hertsmere. With 558 vacant homes, that’s 1.22% of the total housing stock of 45,870 in Hertsmere Borough. Two other districts – Welwyn Hatfield and East Hertfordshire – also have more than 500 long term empty homes. And four other districts – Dacorum, North Hertfordshire, St Albans, and Watford – each have more than 400 long term empty homes. This is a lot of unoccupied dwellings.
Our most recent brownfield research shows there is space for at least 29,580 dwellings on previously developed land in Hertfordshire. Add the empty homes data to this, and it appears that well over 33,000 dwellings could be redeveloped or otherwise occupied before needing to build any new development on greenfield sites in the precious Hertfordshire countryside.
Here at CPRE Hertfordshire we have long been calling on our local authorities for ‘brownfield first’ policies in order to save the countryside from inappropriate development. This should include bringing empty homes back into occupancy as soon as possible.
The data by district is shown below.
|
Local authority |
Total homes | Long Term Empty (LTE) |
% LTE |
| Broxbourne | 42,244 | 270 | 0.64 % |
| Dacorum | 67,833 | 492 | 0.73 % |
| East Herts | 67,566 | 514 | 0.76 % |
| Hertsmere | 45,870 | 558 | 1.22 % |
| North Hertfordshire | 59,869 | 485 | 0.81 % |
| St Albans City & District | 63,254 | 455 | 0.72 % |
| Stevenage | 38,395 | 252 | 0.66 % |
| Three Rivers | 39,092 | 239 | 0.61 % |
| Watford | 43,061 | 423 | 0.98 % |
| Welwyn Hatfield | 50,759 | 525 | 1.03 % |
| Total | 517,953 | 4,213 | 0.81 % |
| Change from last year | + 3833 | + 328 | same |
Source: Action on empty homes; ‘long term empty’ is defined as 6 months or greater, and excludes second homes and holiday lets
CPRE Hertfordshire campaigns to protect the countryside for everyone. Please sign up below for our newsletter to stay up to date with all of our work, or help the countryside even more by volunteering or becoming a member.
