There is only so much Lichfield District Council can do to get empty retail and industrial units filled, its deputy leader has said.
A new economic development strategy is being drawn up and a draft version was discussed at a meeting of the local authority’s Cabinet.
Cllr Andy Smith had asked what the council could do in order to lobby developers and landowners to deal with “eyesore” empty properties.
But Cllr Ian Pritchard, deputy leader of the local authority, said there were limits to what could be achieved.
“Take the Kwik Save site in the city centre – it’s been to more planning meetings than I have,” he said. “It’s the same as the Angel Croft Hotel.
“As a council there is only so much we can do. We can make it waterproof and secure, but it is frustrating when buildings lie empty.”
Richard King, the local authority’s strategic director of democratic, development and legal, added that the movement was finally being made on the Kwik Save site which he admitted had become “a blot on the landscape”.
He added: “As a council we have to be as facilitating as possible.”
