LABOUR councillors have attacked Government plans to make it harder for councils to take over empty or abandoned homes and return them to use.

Councils will have to wait two years to take control of empty properties under new measures announced by Tory Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles.

It came as Southend Council revealed it had brought 129 empty properties back into use since 2009, but Government figures show there are still 2,566 in Southend, 1,784 in Basildon, 916 in Castle Point and 1,875 in Thurrock.

Figures were not available for empty properties in Rochford district.

Previously, councils could take over houses left empty for more than six months.

But Mr Pickles said six months was not long enough and some councils were being “heavy-handed” when seizing homes under the empty homes management orders scheme.

He wants councils to act only if the properties are boarded up and attracting vandalism.

Southend Council’s Labour group leader Ian Gilbert said the changes “water down” Labour’s regulations.

He said: “Empty homes management orders do not mean councils can seize people’s property. They allow us to take over the management of properties for fixed periods if landowners refuse to act.”

However, Anna Waite, Tory Southend councillor responsible for housing, said: “I don’t think the new policy will make any difference to the way we have gone about it in Southend.

“Two years is not a bad time to wait to bring properties back, providing they look in a reasonable condition.”

Mrs Waite said the council should step in and do work on empty properties if they are causing a problem in a street, through their dilapidated appearance, attracting crime or damp, and the owner cannot be contactable.

She added: “That’s very different from taking the property over.”