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, a representative of the group Access B&NES, told a full meeting of Bath and North East Somerset Council: “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 regulations 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.
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The report estimates that this equates to 21,300 people in Bath and North East Somerset — A total of 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 the five key changes to planning regulations would be to ensure access is level, to provide wider doorways where necessary, to make sure bathrooms walls contain no electrics or plumbing so the room can be expanded if needed, to ensure there is sufficient lighting in stairways, and for wider space to be provided between joints and rafters so there is room for a lift to be installed if needed.
Kevin Guy, leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council, invited M Charles to meet with the council’s cabinet member for housing and sustainable development, Councillor Matt McCabe.