OVER 1,600 of Wiltshire homes have remained vacant for six months or longer, according to recent figures.

New government figures show that the number of “long-term empty houses” in Wiltshire have risen slightly since last year when 1,644 were recorded.

This comes as analysis by Project Eutopia shows the number of empty houses across England now account for a stagger £56.8bn.

Across the country, the number of long-term vacant properties rose 4.5 per cent to 225,845 in 12 months to October 2019 according to the latest figures.

Prior to this, the number of long-term vacant properties had dropped every year since 2008.

Cllr Richard Clewer, deputy leader of Wiltshire Council and cabinet member for Housing said: “These are homes that have been empty for more than six months and are privately owned.

“They are mainly second homes. In the past we have written to the owners to see if they would like to lease them to us or bring them back into use using a grant, but this has never been successful.”