Greens draw up plans for empty homes

MORE needs to be done to tackle the number of empty private sector homes in the Capital, it has been claimed.

Alison Johnstone, a Green Party election hopeful, said work needed to be done to bring 2500 empty homes in Edinburgh back into use.

She said: "Over the last year, Shelter's Scottish Empty Homes Partnership has done a great job in highlighting ways in which empty property can be brought into use. But practice here in Scotland is years behind England and Wales.

"Empty homes are a magnet for vandalism and a damning indictment on a Scotland where 160,000 people are on council house waiting lists.

"We need policies like Land Value Tax which would penalise homes lying empty for too long.

"Greens will also look at schemes like loan funds to help owners bring property into good condition."