THE OWNERS of three derelict homes in the town - one of which has been empty for almost 30 years - have been served with compulsory purchase orders by the council.

The move comes under Slough Borough Council's new 'use it or lose it' policy which was introduced in November last year to help maximise housing stock in the area.

The three properties are in Bath Road, Dawes Moor Close and Warwick Avenue respectively. Two have been empty since at least the turn of the century and the other since 1990, the council said.

The council says they will be 'brought back into residential use' - which could mean one of several options including renovating them and selling them onto private owners - or keeping the homes itself for council housing.

Councillor Zaffar Ajaib, commissioner for housing and urban renewal, said: “In an area like Slough where housing is at a premium and more homes desperately needed, there is no reasonable excuse for homes to be left to rot.

“We promised we would get these properties back into use, back to being the homes they deserve to be for local families and this is the next step.”

He continued: “These properties have been empty for years and have been the subject of numerous complaints from neighbours due to the state of them.

“Properties left to deteriorate like this attract anti-social behaviour like squatting, unpleasant smells and flytipping and rats due to the overgrown gardens and rubbish dumped there.

“They are eyesores on their neighbourhoods and cause misery for residents and, as there seems to be no prospect of properties like this being brought back into use voluntarily, we have stepped in.”