Councillors have been asked to form a scrutiny working group to identify local issues and draw up an Empty Property Strategy.

The work, which was requested by Castle Morpeth Council's Executive Board, will include establishing the number of empty homes across the Borough, identifying problems that arise from them and developing plans to bring them back into use.

The team will also be asked to establish the level of 'fuel poverty' in Castle Morpeth, look into the condition of properties, draw up a Private Sector Renewal Strategy to improve accommodation and draft a Landlord Accreditation scheme.

Scrutiny Chairman Andrew Tebbutt said he was keen to take on the work, but called for more support.

"We are discovering that a working group membership of three or four with a quorum of three is proving impossible to manage," he said.

"We do really need political group leaders to encourage their colleagues to get involved. There are now about three working groups which haven't started yet because we don't have full nominations.

"We want to get on with this work and we see it as a very valuable part of what scrutiny does, but what is happening is a few of us are serving on everything and that isn't good policy for the Council.

"If the group leaders could encourage some new people to do things we would be delighted."

The committee has been asked to consult on its proposals before taking them back to the Executive.