Redditch Council has announced that it may relax guidelines in order to convert derelict commercial property into new homes for local residents.
The plans will go ahead if there are no other good suggestions on how to use the valuable space. Other uses being considered include turning the office space into shops, a gym or for touristic purposes.
Talking to the Redditch Standard, Greg Chance, councillor for planning, said: "We need housing in Redditch and if we have empty office buildings which are unlikely to be let again then it makes sense to join the dots and do something else with them. But it would need to be high quality, sustainable development and not just filling in the gaps for the sake of filling in the gaps."
Mr Chance added that town centres which usually have no people living in them can become ghost towns so they want to establish a residential culture in the centre.
Last year, consultant DVA carried out an assessment on the office space in Redditch, concluding that because demand had remained flat in the last year, there had been an oversupply of the space, some of which was not even built for purpose.
Currently, national planning rules state that you cannot convert offices into homes without receiving government approval, but the borough has asked for an exemption to be placed this time so that it does not have to go through the laborious planning process.
A council spokesperson added: "We haven’t yet heard whether our bid for exemption has been successful at this stage and we don’t have a firm date for notification.”
With a population reaching 100,000, demand for housing in Redditch has reached an all-time high in recent years.