Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to revise the National Planning Policy Framework to explicitly require local plans to include a policy and target for new wheelchair-accessible homes of the M4(3) standard.

The Government has set out its intention to mandate higher accessibility standards for all new homes by raising the minimum standard in Building Regulations in England in due course. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local planning authorities should assess the housing needs for different groups, including people with disabilities, and reflect these in their policies and decisions. Guidance was introduced in June 2019 to help councils implement this policy. The Framework encourages planning policies that make use of the Government’s optional technical standards for accessible and adaptable housing, including M4(3) compliant homes, which can be provided where local plans have identified and evidenced a need for wheelchair-user dwellings.