Faced with a significant number of empty homes and a reduction in government funding to tackle them, Stoke-on-Trent City Council devised an innovative solution. Tony Oakman explains how effective the ‘£1 houses scheme' has become

In a previously little-known neighbourhood near the centre of Stoke-on-Trent, 33 refurbished terrace homes were offered to new owners for the nominal sum of £1 each. All of these houses have now been sold or allocated and most are already occupied by individuals, couples and families who would not otherwise have been able to afford to make that first step onto the property ladder. The resulting transition has been swift and noticeable, and is all the more remarkable given that just six months earlier these warm, comfortable, modern family homes were little more than derelict shells earmarked for demolition