Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that more homes are built to accessible and adaptable standards for older and disabled people; and what steps his Department is taking to assess progress on such building standards.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
On 25 June, the Prime Minister announced we will consult on mandating higher accessibility standards for new housing. New Planning guidance was published on 26 June to support councils to put clear policies in place for addressing the housing needs of older and disabled people.
The annual English Housing Survey collects data on accessible and adaptable features in new homes retrospectively.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of the number of Local Plans which include a requirement for new homes to be accessible and adaptable.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
At present, the Government does not collect this data. A recent report by Habinteg suggests that less than a third of all English local plans currently set specific requirements for a percentage of new homes to be built to accessible or adaptable standards.
We have strengthened policy in the revised National Planning Policy Framework, published in July 2018, so that local planning authorities are expected to put in place specific policies to address the housing needs of older and disabled people. We have also strengthened the policy approach to accessible housing by setting out an expectation that planning policies for housing should make use of government standards for accessible and adaptable housing.