A council in Nottinghamshire says it has repaired and brought back into use hundreds of homes as part of efforts to cut its housing waiting list.

Bassetlaw District Council’s housing waiting list has hit 5,700 live applications, new figures show, and there are only 6,546 homes available across the area.

The council says demand for housing is “extremely high”, and efforts are being made to cut the waiting list down.

In a report from Cllr Lynne Schuller, cabinet member for housing and estates, and Alison Craig, head of housing, they said the council has repaired 321 empty homes over the last year, which has enabled them to be re-let at some point in the future.

In total, 272 homes were re-let, and 22 mutual exchanges took place.

Under Right to Buy, a policy first enacted under Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a huge number of council homes have been purchased.

However, there has been a failure to build an adequate number of replacements, which has contributed to the current housing crisis.

According to the authority, 54 Right to Buy applications were completed during the year.

However, the council says it was able to purchase 24 new properties in Worksop, Langold, and Retford to reduce the impact on its stock.

The councillor and officer said: “Over the next 12 months, we will build new partnerships with external housing providers and support agencies to ensure a variety of housing options are available to customers and adequate support is in place from the start of new tenancies, conduct a review of our voids process and use tenant experiences to improve the time it takes to re-let properties, introduce our new Allocations Policy and undertake a review of the council’s waiting list, [and] upgrade our IT systems to improve the housing application and bidding experience for customers.”

The council’s wider housing stock has undergone, and will undergo further, significant investment.

The investment comes as all social housing landlords must meet the new Decent Homes Standard, and all landlords are being inspected by the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) to make sure new consumer standards are being met.

“To ensure that all properties continue to meet the Decent Homes Standard we have invested over £9.5 million in your homes during 2025/26,” the council adds.

“We continue to carry out stock condition surveys to understand what future improvements are required.”

A further £9.6 million will be invested over the next 12 months to ensure homes meet the current standard.

The properties with the poorest energy efficiency ratings will also get a share of £2.5 million to make improvements.

Furthermore, the council says it has committed a total of £10.6 million over the next five years to maintain estates and neighbourhoods, with programmes that include improving roads, footpaths, parking, fences, and garages.

Some of the work on council properties has included some 22,786 repairs, with 98.69 per cent of all repairs completed within the relevant timescales.

All councils must also adhere to new damp and mould regulations, following the implementation of a new law.

The first phase of Awaab’s Law came into force at the end of October, forcing social landlords to take urgent action to fix dangerous homes.

It comes following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his Rochdale home.

The home was managed by social housing provider, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), at the time.

A dedicated damp, mould and disrepair team has now been set up as a single point of contact for any tenant reporting concerns.

In total, the council has responded to 975 damp and mould cases, which required further works after inspection, and a new repairs portal has been launched so tenants can report a repair, make an appointment, and follow the progress of the repair on their mobile phone, laptop, or tablet.