A prospective candidate for a council ward has expressed concern over the issue of empty dwellings.

Carlisle Green Party Chair, Gavin Hawkton, said that residents in Carlisle's Castle ward are becoming "increasingly frustrated" with the number of empty houses on their streets.

The main concerns coming from residents, he added, are that the empty properties supposedly attract anti-social behaviour and are becoming a "blight on communities".

"The number of empty houses has remained stubbornly high with over 1,000 properties lying empty, and the City Council needs to be much more proactive to work towards a solution.

"This isn’t an issue that has appeared overnight.”

"At the moment there appears to be far more interest in building new houses and expanding the city and destroying our surrounding environment than looking after parts of our city that have been left behind."

The Carlisle Green and District Greens have said that they would like to see the a "much more proactive use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders and to work with self-help co-operatives to bring homes back into use and regenerate communities".

Carlisle City Council launched an initiative to reduce the issue of empty homes in the city by providing grants to landlords as a way of incentivising home improvements in 2019 However, Mr Hawkton does not believe that it has done enough.

He added: "I would like to see conditions put on these grants to ensure that homes are renovated with insulation and double glazing so that renters are provided with warm homes to live in. This will also help our drive towards net zero carbon emissions."

Carlisle City Councillor for Cathedral and Castle, Peter Sunter, said the empty homes was also a concern that has been raised to him.

He said: "It's something I spoke about when I was campaigning.

"It's something that I have noticed - that a lot of properties within the Cathedral and Castle [ward], especially on the Cathedral side are owned by landlords and are not always rented out."

On whether it could leave properties as targets for anti-social behaviour, Cllr Sunter added: "I do not know about properties being broken in to or misused in that way, but the anti social part of it for me is that somebody could be living there.

"There should be a reason for a property being empty, and if it is empty because the rent is too high or the cost of living is too high then something needs to be done."

Carlisle City Council's Portfolio holder for Economy, Enterprise and Housing, Paul Nedved, said: "We take the issue of empty homes very seriously and have a dedicated Empty Homes Officer in place to tackle the problem.

"The annual empty homes data submitted this year showed a remarkable reduction of 35 per cent in empty homes in comparison to the 2020 submission.

"The reduction has been helped by various initiatives including a Council backed empty homes grant offer, enforcement activity and support given to owners through the disposal of properties.

"We focus on the properties have been empty for the longest time and are causing the most problems to the people who live in the local area. Our priority is to always to work with owners to help return properties back into occupation and resolve any issues impacting on the community."