Communities minister Don Foster recently announced that £91 million is to be spent in England to refurbish and bring back into use 6,000 empty and derelict houses and commercial premises.

The cash will be spent on refurbishment in areas where derelict empty properties have driven remaining residents away.

The funding is being allocated under two programmes. Some £61 million is from the second round of the empty homes funding programme, £41 million is allocated by the Homes and Communities Agency to registered social landlords, and the remaining money to community and voluntary groups.

The second £30 million tranche is funding for 20 partnerships in areas of acute problems such as Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Middlesbrough, which will bring around 3,500 houses back into use.

The government said £33 million of the empty homes programme funding will go to northern England and £11 million to the Midlands. Greater Manchester is to receive nearly £8.5 million of funding. Manchester will get the biggest share of the cash, with £3.24 million, followed by Salford, with £2.52 million.

Communities minister Don Foster said: “This will bring people, shops and jobs back to once-abandoned areas, and provide extra affordable homes we so badly need.”

The scheme will support 'sweat equity schemes’, where people buy empty properties for a nominal price in exchange for an undertaking to refurbish them.