The number of empty homes in a Norfolk district has fallen by more than a fifth in the last year, a council heard.

In October 2018, there were 61 long-term empty properties in South Norfolk, meaning homes which had been vacant for longer than 24 months.

But in October 2019, that figure had fallen to 48, after 32 homes were removed from the list, and 19 properties crossed the 24 month threshold.

At a meeting of South Norfolk council's scrutiny committee on Wednesday, November 27, Tony Cooke, housing standards manager, told councillors: "We visited three of those properties and found people living in there who were paying double council tax. They were taken off the list. We want them coming back into use as quickly as we can."

And Barry Duffin, Conservative councillor, added: "If you really want a problem get up to north Norfolk where all the holiday homes stand empty year after year and they won't do anything about it."