Councils grappling with government demands to preserve greenfield sites could house half a million people above shops in town centres.
The Living Over The Shop project has done research on how to make better use of potential homes which already exist but are lying empty across the country.

LOTS says 0.5% of the population of any town could be housed in vacant space above shops. It estimates 98% of the homes that could be created in these spaces are not being realised.

A LOTS study for Chichester district council in West Sussex found 150 flats could be created in just four streets in the main commercial area – potentially housing 275 people. It also found:

  • the area contained 370 relevant properties
  • 52 had unused housing potential
  • half of the households on the council's waiting list required one-bedroom accommodation.

A study of Stockton-on-Tees yielded similar results.

The research comes after news that the South East England Development Agency is to tempt single people and one-parent families into town centres by revamping disused sites (HT 1 August, page 12). SEEDA believes 80% of future demand will come from these groups.

LOTS director Ann Petherick warned: "Commercial properties in prime shopping areas change hands frequently, so ownership information collected in surveys has a life of only three to six months.

"Unless councils move immediately, the information and resources are wasted."