Empty promises

The nation is in the grip of an acute housing shortage, and the only solution is to build new homes - or so we're told. The truth is that there are already thousands of perfectly adequate existing houses sitting empty around the country. Shouldn't the logical first step and priority in addressing the problem, ahead of committing to significant construction projects on greenbelt land, be to clamp down on so-called "buy-to-leave" purchases and get as many of the currently vacant properties back into proper use as possible? A no-brainer, surely?