As part of an excercise we are currently undertaking in Luton, we are physically visiting the oldest 200 properties vacant on our Council Tax list.

As it turned out, unbeknownst to me, second homes had been included in the list, which ordinarily we would not deal with.

However, I discovered that 50% of these so called "second homes", were actually long term vacants, and clearly so in some cases.

I know that they are difficult to prove, often not an environmental issue, and probably in Scotland quite legitimate, but, resources permitting, I would encorage authorities to re-visit some of their second homes, as sometimes owners claim them as such, when clearly they are not.

In Luton we have found the owners of second homes, living in the next street! Often they are simply properties that they have inherited and want to sit on.

Given that many authorities still give a 50% discount to second homes, and only 10 or 0 to an empty you can see the incentive.

One way of tackling the second homes problem is through planning policy. In the Yorkshire Dales National Park, for instance, new build properties in villages are restricted so that only people with a local connection can occupy them - see their local plan http://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/yorkshire_dales_local_plan_2006_-_final.pdf and page 29 in particular.

However, of course many second homes are not new builds - in these circumstances, the Planning Authority might be able to introduce second homes as a sui generis Use Class and require a planning application to change use from C3 (dwellinghouses) to the new class - and resist it in areas of particularly severe housing need, backing up the policy with a SHMA.