Bushy Park Luxury Homes Left Unoccupied

5.43.00pm GMT Wed 26th Mar 2008

A controversial private luxury housing development - Upper Lodge - built against strong local and environmentalist opposition over five years ago, has been left unoccupied by the owners for the whole of that time with no sign of occupation.

MP Vincent Cable has been in correspondence with the Royal Parks and the Crown Estate, which originally promoted the development, and both agree that the situation is unsatisfactory. But nothing, apparently, can be done to get the new owners to find occupiers.

Vincent Cable said that: "this is an utterly bizarre situation. We have large numbers of homeless families and others who are severely over crowded; but new fit - indeed luxurious - homes are left unoccupied for years. In the absence of occupiers no council tax is being paid either". This may be a case where the council could make use of the Empty Dwellings Management Order to meet housing needs."

"I accept that the story isn't all bad news. Because there are no occupiers, there is no traffic being generated in the park. The exterior of the building is being preserved and maintained. The site has been improved with the clearance of the old wartime admiralty buildings and the ongoing refurbishment of the water gardens. But with a housing recession taking hold it is difficult to see a market solution happening in the foreseeable future; unless there is an intervention to require that the buildings be productively used for meeting social need".