Housing plans: good news and bad news

LONG-AWAITED plans to improve accessibility standards on new homes have received a mixed reaction.

Ministers have pledged to introduce new rules that will require all new homes to have step-free access to all entrancelevel rooms, as well as facilities and other features that will make the homes more easily adaptable over time – unless where this is “impractical and unachievable”.

But the plans fall short of ensuring a minimum proportion of new homes are built to fully wheelchair-accessible standards.

Disabled housing association Habinteg said the announcement was a significant step towards tackling the UK’s acute and growing shortage of accessible homes, but regretted the failure to set new rules for a minimum proportion of homes built to wheelchair-accessible housing standards.

Holly Holder, co-chair of the Housing Made for Everyone (HoME) coalition, said: “Raising the standard of accessibility has the potential to change millions of lives but only if executed well.”

■ Liverpool City Council is one of the few local authorities that has introduced strict rules on accessible housing, which were agreed in January.

This means all new homes in the city must be built to be more accessible and adaptable for those with mobility impairments, and 10% of them must be wheelchair-accessible and adaptable. More taxi help on way NEW laws will ensure disabled people receive the assistance they need and will not be charged over the odds when using taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs).

The new Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Disabled Persons) Act 2022 is the most significant change to taxi accessibility legislation since the Equality Act was introduced 12 years ago.

Taxi and PHV drivers could now face fines of up to £1,000 if they fail to provide reasonable mobility assistance to disabled passengers taking a prebooked vehicle.

There will also be a duty for local authorities to publicly identify wheelchair-accessible vehicles in their fleets.