Planning White Paper outline major reforms

The government has published its Planning White Paper, Planning for the Future. Much trailed in the press as getting Britain to "build, build, build", the measures outlined are a green light for housebuilders to construct new housing within certain confines; namely, on sites designated for growth.

Despite lobbying with other sector bodies for more favourable planning conditions for housing an ageing population (as we reported last month), the government did not propose anything specifically to boost planning for accessible homes for an ageing population. There is reference to better design quality for inclusive and mixed communities as well as an invitation to comment on people in ‘protected characteristic’ group. While the latter includes age and disability, little further detail is given for consultation on this. However, there is an opportunity to do so in an accompany consultation on the proposed review of the standard method of assessing housing need.