Eyesore turned into family homes

Eight families will move into new homes in Somerset after £120,000 was spent renovating a building which had been gutted by fire in 2007.

Mendip District Council provided the cash to help the owner of 22 Northload Street, Glastonbury develop the site as part of its empty homes initiative.

The flats will be managed by Mendip Housing through its private leasing scheme.

The building had been empty since 2003 and had been targeted by squatters.

As part of the initiative, the council can offer owners of empty properties a range of services such as private sector leasing and a rent deposit scheme to help them give a new lease of life to their buildings.

Councillor Maureen Brandon said: "Schemes like this one in Glastonbury show that with council investment we can positively affect the lives of several families."

Since April 2008, the district council has helped bring 19 empty properties back into use through various schemes.

These include six in Frome, two in Shepton Mallet, two in Wells, one in Street, six in Glastonbury, one in Nunney and one in Butleigh.

There are currently 1,775 empty properties in Mendip of which 479 have been empty for more than six months.