A COUNCIL house has been left empty for nine months despite SDC's recent pleas to private landlords to help house the homeless.

The run down house in Stroud's Highfield Road has been vacant since Boxing Day and angry neighbours suggested this week the council should look closer to home to solve the homeless crisis.

The outburst followed a recent appeal in the SNJ by the council urging private landlords of affordable housing to help out.

But the residents of Highfield Road have responded to the appeal with derision. According to one resident, the derelict house has become a magnet for youngsters who hold wild parties in the garden.

"The council is appealing for houses for the homeless and this one's been empty since Christmas," she said.

"I think it's disgusting. "It used to have a lovely garden but the kids have destroyed it. Now it is littered with broken glass, cans and bottles.

"During the summer holidays kids have been camping out there and having parties in the house until 3am," she said.

"They use it as somewhere to take the girls and go to smoke. "We've had the police up here loads of times."

"I've phoned the council about it so many times I've just given up. "I dread to think what it's like inside now.

"The council has boarded it up but the kids round her will just see that as a challenge." "If they do do anything with it now it's going to cost them a lot more than it would have before the kids got to it.

"They've just left it to rot." The resident said she was 'incensed' to hear of the council's plea to private landlords and said it should fix its own stock first.

Dave Marshall, a spokesman for the district council, said yesterday:"When the house became empty it was still in the same condition it was when it was built immediately after the war."

"It had a tiny kitchen and a downstairs bathroom so we took the opportunity to give it a major refurbishment."

He said the process of checking the building for asbestos, drawing up new plans, putting the work out to tender and starting the renovation had taken some time. Work finally began on Monday.

"We have moved as fast as we can but it is a long-winded process," said Mr Marshall. "We don't want properties to be empty for any longer than they absolutely have to be.

"We're well aware of the need that's out there and there's also the question of lost rent income.

He accepted it was frustrating the property had been damaged by youths. "It is irritating and a sad reflection on society," he said.

"There is always a possibility of the worst happening and obviously we had hoped it wouldn't.

"There's an expense attached to boarding up a property and we had hoped it would be unnecessary."

There are currently 45 empty council properties in the district, although most are re-rented within weeks of becoming vacant.

Mr Marshall said the average time a council house is left empty between lets is 28 days.