Much dereliction in our towns and villages, but also glimmers of hope

Would ‘derelict housing swat teams’, like those in operation in the US, help speed up the process of purchasing houses and other buildings left vacant by absentee, or disinterested, property owners?

Donal Hickey: Many villages no longer have shops, post offices, or petrol pumps. And the number of closed and often derelict pubs, with weeds and grass growing around them, is also striking.

Travelling around the country during the holiday season, worsening dereliction in towns and villages caught the eye, though glimmers of hope are offered by refurbished buildings in a few cases and Government schemes should help.

Many reasons are given for this decline, and our planning system over the past half-century has had a lot to do with it.