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Opening message . . .
From Mick Johnston, ESEH Project Sponsor,
Communities and Local Government
Social Exclusion Unit Policy Action Team 18: Better Information ESEH
electronic survey of empty homes
Unfortunately this type of data collection has been a significant standard XML format and upload them via the web to the
burden both on LAs and on the Department so it has been Department . . . ESEH . . .
necessary to move to a less burdensome method. The new
system is called the Electronic Survey of Empty Homes (ESEH) If you have any queries, do feel free to contact the Department at
pronounced ‘Easy’. It will automatically extract the required data the following email address:
from local authorities' Council Tax systems, put them into vacant.dwellings@communities.gsi.gov.uk
There is an old medical adage that the first step to a cure is knowing what the disease is. The adage works
Why bother?
for housing too. Empty homes are the symptom of many ills in the housing market; oversupply, low demand,
speculative investment. Conversely they can also be the sign of recovery as houses are left temporarily vacant
whilst being renovated, developed or sold. A good local authority in its role of strategic enabler in the housing
market can act as the doctor diagnosing what is wrong and, where necessary administering the medicine.
There are some great examples of local authorities doing just this
Better information on Birmingham City Council has seen a dramatic reduction in its empty
empty homes will lead to homes since it implemented its empty property strategy. Local authorities
more effective strategies in Kent have more than doubled their performance plus in Ipswich and
North London innovative new schemes have been introduced to help first
for reducing the number
time buyers and key workers buy and renovate empty homes.
of them.
All of these successes have been possible because the local authority
ESEH:
diagnosed the disease first. Information and market intelligence is the
● Reduces the burden of the vital first step to success. ESEH can provide local authorities with new and
vacant dwellings survey on better information than they have had before. Allowing them to better
Local Authorities understand what is happening in their district and target the right
● Eases the process of validation medicine to the right place.
on the Department David Ireland
● Improves data quality Empty Homes Agency – March 2007
www.emptyhomes.com
● Enables more timely production
of statistics
● Has the potential for producing
annual CTB return data
ESEH Informs Strategic
● Meets the Office for National
Statistics new standards for
Policy Decisions on
●
geography
Facilitates the production of
Vacant Dwellings
statistics for any geographical As the second largest Local Authority in England, Leeds obviously has a
areas, including very small areas great interest in being able to monitor the number of empty properties in
● Standardises point data that its housing stock. Identifying properties which have been empty for a long
can be joined up with other period, or discovering ‘hotspots’ with many empty properties can play a
information such as tenure or major part in the re-generation programme. The economic prosperity of
Council Tax band for analysis Leeds has led to an increase in the number of properties in the city
● Identifies hotspots through centre available for renting by young professionals. At the same time, the
mapping on an Ordnance increase in student fees has led to a greater number of students living
Survey base with their parents, potentially reducing demand for property in some
areas. Accurate information on both of these trends will be useful for
● Enables time series analysis at
long-term policy decisions.
very local level to identify areas
of rapid increase or reduction Graham Wilton
in vacancy rates Principal Business Continuity Officer (Data)
● Enables cluster analysis Leeds City Council
Analytical insight . . .
All maps produced by Analytical Services, Communities and Local Government
The Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix data only allows a poor outline
of the vacancy rate, due to the higher level of geography. This map
highlights the need for lower level statistics due to the range of vacancy
rates in the legend (0% - 8%). Obviously there are areas of England that
have large problems with vacancy, but an 8% maximum is found at LA
level.
London
© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved Licensee Number 100018986. 2007 0301
This map is a zoomed-in version of the previous one, with an The same area with a MasterMap background allows each
Ordnance Survey Raster map underneath. It provides more dwelling to be viewed as a separate piece of information,
transparency in relation to trends in size and age of property; plus although distinguishing between types of land becomes difficult.
location to make it easier to identify the areas that require
targeting.
Leeds City Centre Second Homes by Census Southwark Total Vacant and Second Homes by
Output Area (2006) Census Output Area (2006)
Software Suppliers Key Role in Implementing ESEH the Department attended the Civica Users
Group in November and this was also very
Most local authorities use Council Tax over the last year and held a seminar for useful. To the best of our knowledge most
management systems provided by them in May. They were consulted on the software suppliers are now actively working
commercial software suppliers. These first draft of the schema during the on their ESEH extract with a view to it
suppliers have a key role to play in summer. The Department is very grateful being available for their clients for the April
developing the data extract for ESEH. The for their useful input at that stage. 2007 data upload. The Department would
Department has been liaising with all Software suppliers then received the like to thank all software suppliers for their
known suppliers of Council Tax software second draft in September. By invitation, active support of the ESEH project.
Supplier Status @ March 2007 – unless otherwise indicated, please contact the respective company’s Help Desk.
Anite In development, with full release going out at the beginning of June, but a pre-release version will be
available from the end of April. This software will have the capability to extract data retrospectively
Capita ESEH extract program available to all Academy Ctax customers from the end of March 2007
Caps Solutions In development, and will be available for the April 2007 survey
Northgate No firm release date at present, but it should be ready shortly. Further information obtainable from
cathryn.ella@northgate-is.com
our customers at the recent Civica user Northgate has significant experience in the
Civica
group, which raised awareness of the development of raw data extracts for such
Civica has recognised the potential initiative and succeeded in recruiting central government statistical returns.
benefits of the new electronic version of willing volunteers to carry out the final Our experience shows that it is essential to
the empty homes survey. The Civica testing. A double bonus! involve our customers in the detailed data
Council Tax software has been developed mapping in order to ensure the accuracy
Sean Higginbottom IRRV
to be compatible with the ESEH XML of the data extracted.
Revenues Product Manager
schema to reduce the administrative Civica UK Limited
We will continue to work closely with our
burden of producing the required vacant
customers and Communities and Local
dwellings data. Further benefits will be
realised in the future when Communities Northgate Government because we understand the
social and financial importance of
and Local Government incorporates the
Northgate’s customers recognise that determining and addressing the impact of
CTB1 information into the same return.
empty properties mean the under utilisation empty homes.
Development has taken place in of a valuable local resource as well as a
consultation with Mick Johnston of the loss in council tax income. The provision of Cathryn Ella
ESEH team at Communities and Local this information goes someway to Revenues and Benefits Product Manager
Government. A presentation was made to addressing this important issue. Northgate
PROGRESS TO DATE Release yourselves
April 2005 11% of LAs provided raw data in CSV
April 2006 60% of LAs provided raw data in CSV from the burden of
July 2006 Draft ESEH XML schema published
December 2006 Schema tested
January 2007 Final Schema published
both the Annual
March 2007 Most software suppliers have completed,
or are actively working on the ESEH XML data extract Vacant Dwellings
modules
November 2007 Piloting of CTB data extract
and CTBI Surveys –
W H AT ’ S N E X T
Make it ESEH in 2007 – All local authorities received
How it’s done
notice of the April 2007 Empty Homes Survey in
January along with the ESEH data standards. Now is The XML Schema contains the rules which dictate the
the time to start gearing up for data submission form in which the data must be extracted from the LAs
using the automated ESEH XML raw data extract CTAX management system. Further information including
and upload. To make sure you get the benefit of XML data specifications can be found on the Department's
the reduced burden this year contact your software website at
supplier if you have not already done so. www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1501015
(CSV option is still available for April 2007 returns, but ward Relevant elements are mapped, by LAs or their software
aggregate option is not). suppliers, from their location in their managment system to
the specified format in the XML schema. A facility to
ESEH at t-Gov EXPO Spring 2007 – If you are at the generate the required data extract report is then added to
t-Gov EXPO 2007 you will be able to find out more
the system.
about ESEH by coming along to our stand in the
exhibition hall. There will be a demonstration of The extract can then be run at any time with no
the analytical mapping of empty homes that is additional work.
possible with ESEH data. t-Gov EXPO is on at the
Submit data – this is done using the tried and tested
EXCeL Centre, London Docklands on 18th to 19th
INTERFORM already used by LAs for a variety of other
April 2007, EXCeL. For further details go to
statistical returns. When you are ready to upload your data
www.tgovseries.org.uk
please contact our helpdesk to get your logon details:
April 2008 – All vacant.dwellings@communities.gsi.gov.uk or 020 7944
LAs to use XML 3294.
for Empty Homes
Survey returns.