Object

Representation ID: 14934

Received: 14/12/2020

Respondent: The Home Builders Federation Midland Region

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Not specified

Policy P4E - Bullet Point 2 - M4(2):
- Optional standards for accessible & adaptable dwellings should be done in accordance with NF (Para. 127 (f) & FN 46), and latest PPG critieria for evidence. Council has provided no evidence on accessibility & adaptability of existing housing stock.
- HBF acknowledge Solihull’s population will ‘age’, but this issue not specific to Borough. And not all health issues require adaptations to homes. If Govt had intended that ageing population was sufficient justification then standards would have been made mandatory in Building Regulations.
- Recent research by Savills ‘Delivering New Homes Resiliently’ (Oct 2020) shows only 7% of over-60s inclined to buy a new home. Adapting existing stock likely to form part of solution as much larger proportion of overall stock.
- M4(1) Building Reg standards already an improvement on older housing stock, so likely to be suitable for most residents.
- Absence of robust evidence, policy approach is inflexible and fails to take account of site-specific circumstances and viability, therefore impeding effectiveness.