A �250,000 project to bring empty homes into use is set to be approved by councillors at a meeting in Great Yarmouth tomorrow.

At the cabinet meeting, councillors will be recommended to give the go- ahead on a Great Yarmouth Borough Council empty homes project which will see ��m invested to breathe new life into homes in the area.

The borough council estimates it will cost �20,000 to refurbish a typical three-bedroom house.

The council aims to reduce the number of empty homes by a minimum of 10pc a year.

The borough is peppered with derelict homes with a majority of them in Great Yarmouth.

In the past six months, the council has identified 211 empty homes in the town, which accounts for nearly a third of the empty homes in the borough.

More than 130 of the empty homes have been unoccupied for more than six months. There are 640 empty homes in the borough, 391 of which have been empty for more than six months.

A total of �300,000 was recently granted to Cotman Housing Association by the Homes and Communities Agency to help regenerate and repair empty homes on King Street.

Paul Smith, regional development manager at Cotman said: 'The funding will assist in the King Street Townscape Heritage Initiative, a conservation-led regeneration scheme supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and will help fund the refurbishment of 12 apartments.'

In 2009 the Southtown housing improvement project (SHIP) was introduced to improve properties in the area. The project saw more than �1m ploughed into regenerating homes in the ward.

lucy.wright@archant.co.uk