Eighty-nine council homes, owned by Lincoln City Council, remain empty at Christmas, despite a large number of applicants on the waiting list.

A freedom of information request has revealed the number of applicants per unoccupied council property is just over 40 to 1, as the figure for the waiting list currently stands at 3,576.

Twenty-one of the empty properties are undergoing major repair and thirty-two are undergoing general repairs. Thirty-four are ready to let, while a further two are housing tenants whose homes are being rebuilt or refurbished.

Nearby Nottingham City Council have 12,990 applicants waiting to be housed by the council, with 946 empty properties. The ratio of list applicant to empty home is much better than Lincoln’s, at nearly 14 to 1. Nottingham City Council are also investing £1,040,000 in building new council homes.

However, Lincoln City Council have not invested in building new properties for many years, instead choosing to spend money on maintaining and enhancing their current properties. They have no future plans to spend on building new council homes.

Alister Williams, Lincoln City Council’s housing portfolio holder, did not respond in time before publication.