Memorandum by the John Grooms Housing
Association (JGHA) (BRG 01)
I was interested to note that the Office of
the Deputy Prime Minister Select Committee will be taking evidence
from the ODPM Minister, Phil Hope MP, on the issue of building
regulations and Lifetime Homes. These are two issues which concern
us in our work building houses for people who are wheelchair users.
As you will know, most new housing is designed
to meet the needs of just 18% of the population (ie those people
who are male, right handed, with good sight and hearing, aged
between 18 and 40, able bodied and fit). The other 72% of the
population are forced to modify their life styles to accommodate
their home environment. If you are a wheelchair user, however,
you may be forced to do more than just "modify your lifestyle".
Living in an unsuitable house can restrict the
wheelchair user to one room. Unable to move around; that one room
becomes the bathroom, kitchen, living and sleeping space—the
disabled person's house is not a home; it's a prison cell.
At we believe that a house should liberate and
provide opportunities for independence—something that the
current supply of housing is conspicuously failing to do. For
more than 30 years John Grooms Housing Association (JGHA) has
specialised in building houses which are suitable for people who
are wheelchair users and which will give them the level of independence
at home that non-disabled people take for granted.
JGHA estimates that the number of wheelchair
users in the UK is between 350,000 and 750,000. The discrepancy
is explained by the fact that some people use a wheelchair all
the time while others only do so when their disabling condition
requires it. Demand for wheelchair accessible properties is likely
to increase in the future as more people live longer (age has
a close correlation with wheelchair use) and people survive an
injury or recover from a severe illness which previously they
would have died from.
Despite this obvious need; there is still a
significant shortage of suitable housing for people who are wheelchair
users. JGHA estimate that up to 300,000 wheelchair accessible
houses are needed across the country to ensure that all physically
disabled people have somewhere to live that is suitably adapted.
JGHA fears that in the Government's push to
increase the numbers of new houses, especially in the four housing
growth areas in the South East of England, wheelchair accessible
housing will be overlooked due to its higher cost per unit when
compared with general needs housing.
With respect to the two issues being examined
by the committee:
PART M ENFORCEMENT
The changes to Part M of the building regulations
in October 1999 were a welcome recognition that reasonable provision
needed to be made to enable disabled people to gain access to
a new house. However it is JGHA's experience, endorsed in a report
published by the Joseph Rowntree Trust[1]that
Part M is not widely recognised by builders and is only variably
enforced by building control officers.
I noticed that Mr Kidney MP made the same point
last week when serving as part of the committee examining the
Housing Bill (Hansard 24 Feb 2004, Standing Committee E,
Column 718). Mr Kidney described how one of his constituents,
Tim Midgley, made an assessment of the 500,000 new houses built
following the implementation of Part M between October 1999 and
December 2002. Mr Midgley found that only 71,000 properties were
compliant—a mere 15%.
To account for the fact that planning permission
may have been granted before October 1999, they organised two
surveys of homes in September and November of last year. Of the
472 houses surveyed in only 6, a risible 1.3%, were wheelchair
users able to get into the front door.
The fact that people who are wheelchair users
are still excluded from the vast majority of new houses is, in
our opinion, a disgrace. It underlines the reason why our current
campaign is entitled the "Lucky Dip Campaign". The chance
of a disabled person finding an accessible house to live in is
equivalent to winning the first prize in a lucky dip.
While I accept that the Government has recognised
problems with the enforcement of Part M, as Lord Rooker's announcement
last October (Hansard, 15 October 2003, Column 934) showed, waiting
two years before the report is published is far too long. Disabled
people need somewhere suitable to live now as well as in the future.
LIFETIME HOUSES
Whilst writing I also wanted to reflect on the
difference between "lifetime houses" and "wheelchair
accessible" houses. It is JGHA's concern that by building
lifetime homes; local authorities will be assured that they are
meeting the all needs of disabled people.
The Lifetime House is a concept which JGHA is
in favour of as it recognises that people's needs change through
the various stages in their life. However a lifetime house does
not always allow a wheelchair user to move into the house straight
away and live there as flexibly/reasonably as a non-disabled person
with the minimum of adaptations.
A wheelchair accessible house is designed around
the needs of the wheelchair user and will allow them to participate
in all aspects of family life (ie putting children into bed, preparing
an evening meal, etc) with the minimum of personal inconvenience.
On the other hand, a lifetime home only guarantees access to the
ground floor for the person using a wheelchair.
Even then, access may only be on the basis that
turning around in the entrance hallway involves going into a room
off the hallway to do so. Door widths may not accommodate an electric
wheelchair user, there may not be an internal area suitable for
charging batteries or entrances will not have a long enough run
up area.
Design features such as space for a through
the floor lift or the provision of bathing/toileting facilities
on both floors of the house, if more than one storey, are incorporated
into a wheelchair accessible house. Wheelchair accessible houses
will generally require a larger footprint than general needs housing—a
factor which will obviously need to be factored in when planning
housing in the growth areas.
Fittings and white goods are designed with the
wheelchair user in mind with the thought that it must work for
the person who will actually live in the house with the minimum
of lifestyle changes.
To address both these issues; JGHA supports
the setting of specific planning targets for wheelchair accessible
housing (such as 10% in the recently published London Plan) to
ensure that the housing needs of people who are wheelchair users
are not overlooked. Indeed JGHA would suggest that the 10% target
is one that should be adopted countrywide to address the severe
shortage of wheelchair housing I highlighted earlier.
If you would like any further information about
our work, please do not hesitate to contact me.
David Harmer
Chief Executive
1 Imrie, R (2003) The impact of Part M on the design
of new housing, Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Back
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