JOHN PRESCOTT’S flagship scheme to help nurses and teachers onto the property ladder is being shunned by the workers it is designed to help.

Figures show more than half the homes built for low-paid public sector employees to buy are lying empty.

Just 615 out of 1,393 houses built for “key workers” — who include police officers, prison service staff and social workers — have been sold, with the rest languishing on the market.

The government helps the workers buy the homes by offering low-cost rental options or favourable borrowing terms.

Although a handful of the empty flats and houses were completed only recently, 85% have been unoccupied for at least three months.

Prescott’s department played down the problem, blaming “market fluctuations”. However, some potential buyers say they do not like the new estates because they do not want to live in “public sector ghettoes” next to people in similar jobs.

Opposition MPs this weekend accused Prescott of trying to make key workers live like characters in television shows such as No Angels and Teachers, in which young professionals live and socialise together. Eric Pickles, the Tory local government spokesman, said: “Prescott should stop living in soap opera land.”

A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, which obtained the figures in a parliamentary answer, said: “The feedback we have had from key workers . . . is that they do not want to live in public sector ghettoes.”

There have also been complaints about the price and quality of some of the housing — part-ownership of some new flats costs up to £250,000.

Prescott’s £725m Key Worker Living programme was launched in 2004. To date, 2,817 homes have been built, mostly in London, with 1,424 for rent and 1,393 to buy. To qualify, employees must have total household incomes of less than £60,000.

Those who meet the criteria are offered several options, including loans up to £50,000; low-cost renting; and low-cost ownership including buying part of the property while renting the remainder. Although the majority of the homes for sale are languishing, 1,201 rental properties have been snapped up.

Prescott’s department insists the project is a success and plans to put more money into it. A spokesman said: “Some empty properties have been reserved by buyers. Some people don’t want to go to the areas where the flats are being built. It’s an individual thing.”

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