Agenda item

To receive petitions and public questions in accordance with Standing Order 9.

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1          Question from Mrs E Reeve

According to your own figures there are  2,800 empty properties in the Borough of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, the majority of which are residential.  All major parties seem to have the same view that we need more houses built and the Government will be putting requirements in place.  I understand that many councils in England are contacting the Government to say they aren’t able to deliver on the Govts new requirements, so why cant the existing empty houses be brought back into use for those needs. 

Councillor Rust gave the following response: 

Thank you for your question Mrs Reeve.  I know that this issue has long been of concern to you.  I think we all agree that it would be better for us to be able to utilise the empty homes that we have in the borough rather than leaving them empty. 

The figure of 2,800 empty properties doesn’t match our own figures taken from our council tax information. 

Our data shows that there are currently 1984 properties which are empty in West Norfolk. Of these only 686 properties have been empty for more than a year and are now paying the empty homes levy. The levy is 100% for properties empty between 1 and 5 years, 200% for properties empty between 5 and 10 years and 300% for properties empty over 10 years.

We are currently assessing the impact of the empty homes levy to determine if this reduces the number of long term empty properties in the borough.  

The details of the empty homes and the duration that they have been empty is broken down as follows

Empty between 1 and 5 years            592 properties

Empty between 5 and 10 years          71 properties

Empty over 10 years                           23 properties

It’s important for us to bear in mind that there is always churn in the housing market and some properties can take a while to sell, especially where probate is concerned

We have approx. 68 properties are uninhabitable but still on the Council Tax database

Figures from the VOA show that for 2023/2024 there were no dwellings deleted from the council tax list because they were derelict and no longer viable as a domestic property (there is a very high bar for this).  A number have changed from domestic use, and these are normally holiday lets which now qualify to be in business rates instead

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2          Question from Ms J Irving

Firstly, my thanks to Cllr Moriarty for his full and informative answers to my questions about Hedgerow protection and the enforcement and monitoring of Tree Preservation Orders.

It seems that trees with TPOs are not routinely monitored by tree officers except in the context of impending development: the system of monitoring then relies on the public knowing which trees have TPOs, how to report a danger to them and trusting that action will be taken. From a citizen’s point of view, finding all this information is difficult and time consuming using current cumbersome systems.

It is clear that it is difficult for the authorities to know how many trees with TPOs have been felled or damaged on an ad hoc basis, when that damage is not part of a building development. 

My question to the council, is therefore, how many trees with TPOs have been lost in the course of building and other developments since records began in 2005 ?

Councillor Moriarty gave the following response:

As I have previously said, It would not be practical or possible to routinely monitor tree preservation orders. We do rely on passive monitoring by neighbours, members of the public, Tree Contractors, Town and Parish Council’s, our own Council members, staff.  We regularly receive enquiries about tree works taking place from interested members of the public, and Parish Council’s who are very vigilant.  The system has successfully self-monitored itself since 1947.

It had been thought that searching for a TPO on our website was relatively straightforward, the search method may not be perfect, but with a postcode or address it was hoped it was user friendly and would take about a minute to search for a TPO or Conservation Area.

However, you haver described it as cumbersome and time-consuming and it is a users perspective we need to listen to.

We are planning a couple of improvements which I hope will help.

Firstly, the intention is to set up a form on our website where reports ref TPOs can be made anonymously. Public awareness of tree protection is high in West Norfolk, and I would encourage the council to do anything practicable to encourage that to increase further and to foster better communication with residents, and public and community bodies. There are, of necessity, our eyes and ears.

In addition, we are currently developing a replacement Tree Preservation Order map for our website (and beyond).

The map will display all the TPO points (single trees), TPO polygons (areas, woodlands and groups), and Conservation areas in an easy to access and viewable map with an up to date base map and simple address search facility. I have viewed the prototype and was impressed. The only outstanding issue is linking the spatial TPO data and the TPO documents itself.  Please don’t ask me as your supplementary question exactly what that last sentence means, as I will be doubling my jeopardy with my answer.

The map can be viewed and is usable on desktop PCs, tablets and mobile phones.

I now would like to ask something of you. Would you be prepared to come into the Council offices in Kings Lynn and sit down with officers and myself and see a demonstration of the new map before it goes live ? Your input as an end-user familiar with the frustrations of our current system would be invaluable.

Ms Irving accepted the request.