Liverpool City Council, aware of how vacant properties can act as a magnet for crime, took the measures to protect remaining residents during the period of change.
Since the initiative started last April, special patrols have caught a number of people in empty properties red-handed, including someone leaving a house with a wheelbarrow full of copper piping.
Empty houses are being protected by monitored alarms, by steel or polymer screens on windows and doors, and by removing combustibles and valuable items. Special projects have included clearing rubbish from three streets known as the ‘V streets’, and from back and front gardens of empty houses.
