A NEW government housing grant is just reward for efforts to tackle vacant properties, says a council chief.

Pendle Council has been told by Whitehall that it is set to receive £714,000 under the New Homes Bonus initiative.

Coun Joe Cooney, council leader, said: “Our real strength is how we’ve brought nearly 400 empty properties back into use in the last year.

“We appointed an empty homes officer in 2009 to tackle the blight caused by empty houses and to provide more homes.

“Since then there has been a significant increase in the number of empty houses brought back into use and we’ll continue to work hard on this.”

The bonus scheme has attracted controversy as the housing regeneration cash offered to East Lancashire authorities is now much depleted compared to previous housing market renewal incentives.