Over 1,000 properties are sitting empty in Mendip amid a national housing crisis - and over 400 have been empty for more than six months.

The chief executive of housing charity Shelter has said it is frustrating to see properties sitting empty across the country "when so many people desperately need a safe and secure home".

Campaign group Action on Empty Homes called the latest figures "shocking", after they revealed long-term empties across the country have risen to the highest level in a decade outside of the coronavirus pandemic.

Data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities shows at least 407 homes liable for council tax in Mendip had been unoccupied for at least six months at the most recent count in October.

However, it meant the number of empty houses has decreased by 6% from 433 in 2021, and 16% compared to 485 in 2012.

The properties deemed long-term empty were among a total of 1,293 vacant homes counted in Mendip in October.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has called on the Government to give local authorities greater powers to acquire empty homes.

A spokesperson for the LGA, which represents local councils, said: "At a time when we face a chronic housing shortage across the country and high levels of homelessness, it is wrong for so many homes to be left empty."

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said more should be done to restore empty homes.

She added: "Even if we filled every one of these empty properties, we still wouldn't have solved the chronic housing shortage we face. The only way to solve the housing crisis is to build a new generation of green social housing."