Bolton’s thousands of empty homes have proven to be a key election topic in one of the borough’s closest fought seats. This comes after the Bolton and District Pensioners Association contacted all of the candidates standing across the borough’s three seats ahead of the July election. In Bolton North East, which was won narrowly by Conservative Mark Logan in 2019, housing was raised by several candidates responding to the pensioners’ questions.
Labour’s Kirith Entwistle said: “I have seen more and more being boarded up in Breightmet and am working with the council, Bolton at Home and a few experienced individuals in the housing sector to come up with a solution to this problem already. "I am hopeful of our plans to build 1.5million new homes over the next parliament, and the announcement that we will immediately update the National Policy Planning Framework to undo damaging Conservative changes, including restoring mandatory housing targets.
An empty houses on Rochester Avenue, Breightmet (Image: Public) "In partnership with local leaders and communities, a Labour government will build a new generation of new towns, inspired by the proud legacy of the 1945 Labour government." Independent candidate Kevin Allsop said he hoped to make sure councils like Bolton take stronger action against empty homes using Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMO). Mr Allsop said: “There are 6,000 empty houses in Bolton.
“Bolton council have issued three EDMOs, whereas Kent have mad.
