Castle Morpeth Council has drawn up a Draft Empty Homes Strategy to tackle the nuisance vacant buildings can cause and free up more housing supply.

The authority has outlined a series of measures to bring about improvements, from simply offering landlords advice to taking enforcement action and compulsory purchase.

However, officers have said the most serious actions may prove too costly and time-consuming to introduce before the council is shut down in April.

Borough neighbourhood services manager Martin Laidler said: "The idea is to take a softly softly approach to make sure properties are brought back into use.

"There are additional things we can implement and the powers are there, but they might be done by a new authority.

"Compulsory purchase is very much the last resort.

"There is a cost in terms of finances and officers' time and it is likely any action would be by the new authority."

Figures from April show that across Castle Morpeth there were 324 homes in the private sector that had been empty for more than six months, but the council plans initially to focus its efforts on the 71 that became vacant between April 2005 and March 2007.

Attempts would be made to raise awareness of the issue among officers, councillors, community organisations and the public to encourage reporting of empty dwellings.

Owners would be offered help to address the problem and advice on having repairs carried out, finding tenants, putting the property up for sale, planning applications and accessing professional services.

And there would also be an Empty Property Grant available in Cresswell, Ellington, Linton and Lynemouth, covering up to 50 per cent of the cost of works, up to a maximum of £10,000.

However, if negotiations fail to find a resolution, the council could apply for an Empty Dwelling Management Order to take control of a property, serve an improvement notice for repairs to be carried out, or pursue compulsory purchase.

Council executive member for communities Glen Sanderson said: "This policy sets out the steps that we will take.

"We are not just going to come in and say 'this is not good enough', we are going to do something about it."

The draft policy will go out to public consultation and if adopted will form the basis of a strategy for the new Northumberland unitary authority.