One in 120 houses in Sussex is empty, new figures have revealed.

Town halls have been told they must meet Government housing targets and encroach on the green belt while thousands of properties remain unoccupied.

In Hastings, where one house in 50 has been empty for more than six months, MP Michael Foster has called for the use of compulsory purchase orders.

There are in the region of 700,000 properties in Sussex, of which almost 6,000 are classed as long-term empty.

Despite this, more than 4,000 homes are being built annually, putting increased pressure on the green belt.

As a result, bringing empty properties back into use should be high on councils' list of priorities, ministers have argued.

There are 44,250 families in Sussex waiting for a property. That figure could be reduced by 13 per cent if the homes empty for longer than six months were used.

Hastings has more empty properties than anywhere else in Sussex. Of it's 41,405 dwellings, 852 have stood unoccupied for more than six months. Yet the borough still has a new build target of 210 a year.

If families were put into all of the longterm empty properties the number on the waiting list would be slashed by more than 60 per cent.

Mr Foster said: "I have long taken the view that long-term empty properties should be taken on by public authorities.

"I am surprised there are that many and we need to investigate why that is, and if they are simply being left for no good purpose."

James Smith, empty homes officer at Hastings Borough Council, said often the homes were less than desirable and, in effect, useless.

To combat the empty homes crisis the council now offers grants of up to £10,000 to first-time buyers to spend on repairs in empty properties.

In Lewes the local authority has asked people with second homes if they would be interested in renting them to the council for the homeless or those on the housing waiting list. However, interest has been minimal.

A spokesman for Horsham District Council said: "Some private homes tend to be empty on a long-term basis for a number of reasons including where the inhabitant is in long-term care. For this reason most of the district's empty properties are not easily available for alternative use."

Worthing Borough Council has said it wants to use empty properties to house as many people as possible, and will not rule out compulsory purchase orders.

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