Town estate could have 300 empty homes
A COUNCIL is monitoring a Newmarket estate where more than 300 homes are likely to be empty by the end of the year.
Following an announcement by the US Air Force that its remaining personnel would be moving out of the Studlands Park estate, the future of many of the houses that were occupied by service families appears uncertain.
Forest Heath Council has written to development company Persimmon House, which has been responsible for the maintenance of the houses, many of which are privately owned, for the past decade, asking what the future holds for the properties.
Cllr Bob Cole, who represents the estate on Newmarket Town Council, told members of the community services committee on Monday that currently six houses were up for sale and that there were just 11 American families left on the estate.
He said the empty areas on the estate were currently being monitored by US security patrols and would be until the end of the year but local police were concerned that if houses stayed unoccupied for a long time they could be targeted by vandals and squatters.
A spokeswoman for Forest Heath Council said: "We are conscious of a number of empty homes and we are working with the agencies involved to try to make sure they are put to good use. A number of them are privately owned and some are already up for sale."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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