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diff --git a/templates/web/emptyhomes/faq/faq-en-gb.html b/templates/web/emptyhomes/faq/faq-en-gb.html new file mode 100755 index 000000000..0222fcd9e --- /dev/null +++ b/templates/web/emptyhomes/faq/faq-en-gb.html @@ -0,0 +1,114 @@ +[% INCLUDE 'header.html', title => loc('Frequently Asked Questions') %] + +<h1>Frequently Asked Questions</h1> + <dl> + <dt>What is this site for?</dt> + <dd>This site is to help make it as easy as possible for you to get +empty homes in your area put back into use. It allows you, to view empty homes +that have been reported and see what has been done about them. It makes +councils accountable for responding and dealing with the empty homes you +report.</dd> + <dt>How do I use the site?</dt> + <dd>Enter a postcode or address in the box on the homepage and you +are presented with a map of that area. Click where the empty property is, fill +in the details, upload a photo if you have one and press submit. That’s +it. You can also view other empty properties that have been reported and see +what has been done about them.</dd> + <dt>Is it free?</dt> + <dd>Yes. The costs of developing and running this site are shared +between the Empty Homes Agency and Shelter Cymru through the generosity of +their funders. Both the Empty Homes Agency and Shelter Cymru are registered charities, +so if you believe in their aims and would like to make a contribution, please do: +<a href="http://www.emptyhomes.com/donate.html">Empty Homes Agency</a> +or <a href="http://www.sheltercymru.org.uk/shelter/howtohelp/ood.asp">Shelter Cymru</a>.</dd> + <dt>Do you remove silly or illegal content?</dt> + <dd>We reserve the right to remove any reports or updates +which we consider to be inappropriate.</dd> + <dt>How do councils bring empty properties back into use?</dt> + <dd><p>All councils in England and Wales have powers to bring empty +homes back into use. Many are very good at it, some are not. Most councils seek +to persuade and help the owner to bring their property back into use; they only +use legal powers such as Empty Dwelling Management Orders when help and +persuasion have failed.</p> <p> +Most empty homes are brought back into use eventually by their owner. But in +many cases this takes years. Empty homes often decline fast – they become +overrun with weeds and attacked by the weather. They are often used by +squatters, fly tippers, vandals and are sometimes subject to arson. The whole +neighbourhood suffers waiting for the owner to deal with their property.</p> <p> +Councils help and persuade owners to bring their properties into use faster. +Even so the process can be slow, especially if the property is in very poor +repair or the owner is unwilling to do anything. In most cases it takes six +months before you can expect to see anything change, occasionally longer. This +doesn’t mean the council isn’t doing anything, which is why we encourage +councils to update the website so you can see what is happening.</p> <p> +We will contact you twice (a month and six months after you report the empty +home) so you can tell us what has happened. If the council doesn’t do anything, +or you think their response is inadequate we will advise you what you can do +next.</p> <p> +If the empty home is owned by the government or one its agencies, councils are +often powerless to help. However you might be able to take action directly +yourself using a PROD: +<a href="http://www.emptyhomes.com/usefulinformation/policy_docs/prods.html">http://www.emptyhomes.com/usefulinformation/policy_docs/prods.html</a> +</dd> + <dt>Will reporting an empty home make any difference?</dt> + <dd><p>Yes. Councils can make a real difference, but they have lots of +things to do. Many councils only deal with empty homes that are reported to +them. If people do not report empty homes, councils may well conclude that +other areas of work are more important.</p> <p> +There are over 840,000 empty homes in the UK. The Empty Homes Agency estimates +that over half of these are unnecessarily empty. The effect of this is to +significantly reduce the available housing stock fuelling the UK’s housing +crisis. A by-product of this waste is that far greater pressure is put on +building land as more homes are built to meet the shortfall. The Empty Homes +Agency estimate that bringing just a quarter of the UK’s empty homes into use +would provide homes for 700,000 people, save 160 square kilometres of land and +save 10 million tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> over building the same number of new homes. +</dt> + </dl> + <h2>Privacy Questions</h2> + <dl> + <dt>Who gets to see my email address?</dt> + <dd>If you submit an empty property, your details are provided to us and to the council. +Your name is displayed upon the site if you let us, but not your email address; +similarly with updates. We will never give or sell your email address to +anyone else, unless we are obliged to by law.</dd> + <dt>Will you send nasty, brutish spam to my email address?</dt> + <dd>Never. We will email you if someone leaves an update on a +report you’ve made, and send you questionnaire emails four weeks and six months +after you submit a problem, asking for a status update; we’ll only ever +send you emails in relation to your problem.</dd> + </dl> + <h2>Organisation Questions</h2> + <dl> + <dt>Who built this site?</dt> + <dd>This site was built by <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/">mySociety</a>. +mySociety is the project of a registered charity which has grown out of the community of +volunteers who built sites like <a href="http://www.theyworkforyou.com/">TheyWorkForYou</a>. +mySociety’s primary mission is to build Internet projects which give people simple, tangible +benefits in the civic and community aspects of their lives. Our first project +was <a href="http://www.writetothem.com/">WriteToThem</a>, where you can write to any of your +elected representatives, for free. +<a href="https://secure.mysociety.org/donate/">Donate to mySociety</a></dd> + <dt>Where’s the "source code" to this site?</dt> + <dd>The software behind this site is open source, and available +to you mainly under the GNU Affero GPL software license. You can <a +href="http://github.com/mysociety/fixmystreet">download the +source code</a> and help us develop it. +You’re welcome to use it in your own projects, although you must also +make available the source code to any such projects.</dd> + <dt>People build things, not organisations. Who <em>actually</em> built it?</dt> + <dd>This adaptation of <a href="http://www.fixmystreet.com/">Fix­MyStreet</a> +was written by Matthew Somerville. Thanks go to +<a href="http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk">Ordnance Survey</a> (for the maps, +UK postcodes, and UK addresses – data © Crown copyright, all +rights reserved, Ministry of Justice 100037819 2008), +Yahoo! for their BSD-licensed JavaScript libraries, the entire free software +community (this particular project was brought to you by Perl, PostgreSQL, +and the number 161.290) and <a +href="http://www.m247.com/">M247</a> (who kindly host all +our servers). + +Let us know if we’ve missed anyone.</dd> + </dl> + +[% INCLUDE 'footer.html' %] |