By John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter: Councillors have been urged to make five changes to planning regulations in Bath and North East Somerset, which campaigners say will help people who need accessible homes in the district.
Susan Charles of the group Access B&NES told a full meeting of Bath and North East Somerset Council on November 21: “We are all only one diagnosis away from needing accessible accommodation. […] Illness and disability can strike at any time, any age, and in any type of housing. All that is needed is five changes to planning regs that could save the NHS, social services, and the client money, time, and not having to move house.”
She added that she had not been provided with the numbers of accessible homes already in the council area, but she said the council’s housing needs assessment report quoted that nationally one in 12 households had at least one person with a limiting long-term illness or disability. The report estimates that this equates to 21,300 people in Bath and North East Somerset — 566 of whom are estimated to be living in an unsuitable home.
Ms Charles said: “That can require planning permission, building contractors, upheaval, and — in a case I heard of recently — where a couple hired an accessible Airbnb at £1,000 per week for four weeks while a shower and toilet was added onto the ground floor under the stairs in their house, as the wife had broken her hip.
“It has been 10 months now while she lives on the ground floor, sleeps, eats, and entertains in one room, still waiting for the operation. But imagine the difficulties if the adaptation wasn’t done.”
Ms Charles told the council that accessible planning was needed for new build housing in the district. She said five key changes would be level access, wider doorways, bathrooms walls containing no electrics or plumbing so they can be moved to expand the bathroom if needed, good lighting in stairways, and for joints and rafters to leave a wider space for a lift to be installed if needed.
Council leader Kevin Guy invited her to meet with the council’s cabinet member for housing.
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