Millionaire owners of so-called ‘ghost homes’ in Britain's richest borough could be ordered to fill them with families to cope with the housing shortage, The Telegraph can disclose.

The Conservative-led Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is lobbying ministers to change the law to allow them to move tenants into private homes which have lain empty for years in the borough.

However, the council needs the Government to make a small change to its powers so they can take action because they currently only relate to vandalised properties rather than those lying empty.

Campaigners welcomed the idea. Chris Bailey, of the charity Empty Homes, said: "We need to find a way to bring all England’s 205,000 long-term unused properties back into use to help tackle the housing crisis.

"Councils need Government support to do this more quickly and more easily. An empty home is a wasted opportunity to change a family's life for the better."

Kensington and Chelsea - which has been heavily criticised over last year's Grenfell fire tragedy in the borough - is desperate to get on the front foot over its treatment of social housing tenants and take a proactive stance in finding properties for them.

The initiative was signed off by the council’s cabinet at a meeting last weekend. Details were sent this week to Kit Malthouse, the Housing Minister, by Kim Taylor-Smith, the council's deputy leader who leads on Grenfell and housing.

In the letter, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Taylor-Smith says the council is looking at "new and innovative ways to increase social housing stock in the borough" and "pilot new ways of housing the homeless".

Kensington and Chelsea, where most homes sell for over £1million, is a victim of the "buy to leave market" where buyers - often from overseas - buy homes in the borough and wait for prices to increase.