Council-owned garages in Stoke-on-Trent are being reviewed – with more than half of them currently empty.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council's housing revenue account (HRA) has 1,117 garages, but only 46.5 per cent of them are occupied, meaning around 600 are not in use.

Councillors are being consulted on the garages in their wards, which could see some sold off or demolished and repurposed.

Dave Evans, Conservative councillor for Baddeley, Milton and Norton, raised the issue at a full council meeting, suggesting that some under-used garage sites in his ward could be turned into off-street parking to ease congestion.

Cllr Evans said: "Station Grove, in Milton, is a really compact cul-de-sac – very little parking, not really wide enough for two cars to pass.

"There's a HRA garage sight next to it with very little occupancy. Wouldn't it make sense to drop the garages to increase the parking capacity and move cars from the road?"

Cllr Chris Robinson, cabinet member for housing and planning, said that a review to identify issues such as this was under way, with individual ward councillors being consulted.

He said: "We've been doing some work on this side of the chamber, and I was under the impression that the Conservatives were going to similar work where individual councillors were going to work with officers to identify garage sites in their wards.

"We've been able to tell officers about anti-social behaviour, if the garages are used, and what we'd like to see them used for. I assume that work must be coming."

According to the written response to Cllr Evans' question, all HRA garage sites have been assessed and divided into three categories, based on their occupancy levels, waiting lists and their overall condition.

Garages will either be retained, disposed on the open market so local residents or small builders can make use of the plots, or cleared and retained for future HRA building programmes.

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