NEARLY 600 empty properties were brought back into use by Bolton Council during the last financial year - but not a single one counts towards the authority's house-building target.

It emerged at a meeting of the council's environmental services scrutiny committee that 599 private sector homes had been returned to a habitable state by the council's Empty Homes team during 2017/18.

But, despite this, the committee was told the government does not include these houses when calculating the council's progress against its housing-supply target.

At present the council anticipates a need for up to 6568 homes by 2022 and currently has identified land for supplying 3390.

The council's interim director of place, Gerry Brough, said that the issue had been raised by Bolton and other authorities in a recent nationwide consultation, but representations had not been taken into account by the government.

Committee member Cllr Guy Harkin, said the situation the government should be urged to reconsider its stance.

He said:"If they are not counted against the allocation we ought to make representations that it it is.

"We are interested in the number of housing units required as town, if this is making a net contribution as a result of that activity it should be reflected in government targets, it's counter-intuitive in that sense and we should make representations to the Local Government Association (LGA).

"There should be some recognition that we are making this contribution and that should ease the pressure on greenbelt."

Cllr Haslam said he was sure that officers were correct in stating that only new properties were included in the government's tally of new homes.

But he added: "I'm sure it's correct but it's not correct in terms of good policy and we ought to make representations to the LGA".

The Labour councillor acknowledged that the issue had been raised during a consultation, but said it was an "unsatisfactory" situation.

He said: "I'm sure it's correct, but it's not correct in terms of good policy and we ought to make that clear to the LGA."

The council's environment chief Cllr Peel said he agreed with Cllr Harkin and Cllr Bob Allen, whose question had sparked the debate, but that the government had obviously taken a different view.

He said: "Representations have been made, it's clearly not a party political issue, but it doesn't fit in with the government's agenda for houses being built.

"There's a lot of logic in what councillors Harkin and Allen are saying, which I support, but the government doesn't support it."

Cllr Allen also praised the council's efforts to bring run-down properties back into use.

He said: "The council’s work in the private rental sector is commendable, because a lot of private landlords are less than scrupulous and some accommodation leaves a lot to be desired, so the work the council does in this area is really valuable."