[Ken Moss]

Of course, the other option would be to buy up the delapidated properties and renovate them but for some infathomable reason there is resistance to get back into social housing, the reason stated that it would cost too much and would provide unfair competition for existing landlords.

Several thousand private landlords manage to turn a profit every day but a council can't do this?

A better scheme to whittle out the chaff would be to buy a block of empty terraced properties and do them up using council money. These houses would then be sold to first time buyers from within Hyndburn at cost with the proviso that they were not to be resold as rental properties within ten years. The money from each sale could be used to buy up further empty housing and you end up with a self-perpetuating scheme that slowly regenerates the borough for around half a million quid.

I doubt it will be taken seriously as an idea.