Q & A with Sarah
Q I'm sick and tired of all the boarded up houses on my estate. Is there anything I can do about it? They would all make good family homes and it'd save the cost of having to build new ones. Maureen Cole
QI'm sick and tired of all the boarded up houses on my estate. Is there anything I can do about it? They would all make good family homes and it'd save the cost of having to build new ones.
Maureen Cole
AFrustrating, isn't it? According to the Empty Homes Agency (EHA), an independent charity that exists to bring vacant property back into use, there are more than 840,000 empty or derelict homes in the UK.
While the Government wants to build hundreds of thousands of new homes over the next few years, the EHA estimates that bringing just a quarter of the UK's empty housing stock into use could provide homes for 700,000 people, save 160 square kilometres of land (including some from the green belt) and save 10 million tonnes of CO2 compared to building the same number of new homes.
Sadly, empty houses can quickly fall into disrepair and are occasionally set on fire. It must be very annoying being stuck on a council house waiting list when there's so much empty property about.
So what can you do about it? Thanks to the EHA, quite a lot actually.
It's set up a special website – www.reportemptyhomes.com – where you can file a report of a boarded up house or vacant property which will then be forwarded on to your local council. It's very easy to use.
You simply call up the website, enter a street name or postcode near the empty house, and then click where the empty property is located on a map of the area.
Then all you've got to do is fill in some more details, upload a digital photo of the property (if you have one) and click on the submit button.
Q The pavements near where I live are covered in chewing gum. It looks unsightly, but it's almost impossible to remove. Any tips?
K. Closer
A If I knew a cheap and effective way of removing wads of chewing gum from pavements I'd be a very rich woman. According to the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, the annual cleaning bill for keeping our streets gum-free is more than 150 million and even then you'll be left with an unsightly oily residue in most cases. Waitrose is about to start selling Chicza Rainforest Gum which has been certified organic and sustainable and has the added benefit of being completely biodegradable and starts to break down almost immediately after use.
Incidentally, if you want to remove chewing gum from clothing, simply pop the garment in a plastic bag and leave in your freezer for two or three hours. Then gently scrape the gum off with a knife.
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Weather for Stamford
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: -5 C to -1 C
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