London-based property developers and dilapidated colliery houses are being blamed for startling figures which reveal more than 2,000 privately-owned East Durham properties stand empty.

The figures – which are double the problem encountered by adjoining local authorities – have been revealed while as many as 3,934 people wait to be housed in the area.

Council chiefs have now decided to act in a bid to bring more of the empty homes back into use.

District of Easington council's head of housing, Ian Morris, said a combination of factors had led to the large numbers of empty dwellings.

These included:
* The historically weaker housing market in East Durham;
* Property investors buying up cheap houses and abandoning them;
* People inheriting dilapidated terraced homes and not knowing what to do with them.

Mr Morris said: "We have been contacting owners of properties and there are some that are owned by speculative property investors who don't even live in the area.

"The information we have got from the private landlords we work with is that they are not struggling to find tenants. If you have got a decent property you will find tenants."

The latest council tax records from District of Easington council show 2,200 homes are empty – with 1,600 of these deserted for more than six months.

This compares with 1,253 empty properties in the Sedgefield district and 1,043 in Durham city.

But the latest figures from East Durham Homes, which runs the council's housing stock, show 3,934 people are waiting for somewhere to live.

Members of the council's executive have now agreed to spend £35,000 on an empty homes officer whose powers will include selling the property of unco-operative owners.

The decision to appoint an empty homes officer follows a pilot scheme in Easington Colliery and Horden which saw 41 properties brought back into use.

Horden councillor Dennis Maddison welcomed the decision to appoint the new officer.

"I think it is a brilliant idea because these private landlords do what they want," he said.

"In Horden, some of the properties are horrendous and half of the landlords are down London way."

But independent councillor Brian Wilson criticised the council's spending.

"Why should we spend £35,000 on a new post when we have got the information already," he said.

The council currently owns 99 empty properties which are being run by EDH.