by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Kent's pioneering scheme to bring empty property back into use has been picked up in Devon.

Teignbridge is the fifth authority outside the county to be impressed by Kent County Council's No Use Empty project.

The district council follows the West of England partnership (Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol City, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire) to launch their own initiative in collaboration with KCC.

Since No Use Empty was launched in 2005, Kent has injected £6million in the project and been recognised as the leading authority on empty homes and commercial premises in the UK.

The initiative, run by KCC with the county's 12 districts, has so far returned 2,300 empty homes to use.

Project manager Steve Grimshaw said the issue had risen up the political agenda.

He said: "The fact that five authorities outside of Kent have adopted the No Use Empty scheme underlines how successful we have been in reducing the number of empties in the past seven years."

Cllr Philip Vogel, Teignbridge council's housing and planning spokesman, said: "There is a shortage of quality housing in the area and we recognise that empty homes are an important part of the solution.

"The No Use Empty has been incredibly successful in Kent and it will be hugely beneficial to be able to draw on the team’s expertise and experience as we get our own initiative off the ground."

Under the scheme, owners of empty homes can apply for interest-free loans to help cover the cost of repairs and refurbishment works.

Loans of up to £25,000 per unit (max. £175,000 per project) are available to provide working capital to drive projects forward. All loans are repayable in three years.