The Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee has written to Matthew Pennycook MP, Minister for Housing and Planning, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, to raise a series of questions about the Government’s approach to ensuring new homes are accessible.
In the correspondence, the cross-party Committee highlights the previous Government’s decision to adopt Part M4(2) of the Building Regulations as the minimum standard for all new homes and notes that the current Government has yet to give a clear commitment to this standard.
Florence Eshalomi MP, Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee said: “Successive governments have been dithering over this question for too long. We need more homes, but they must be the right homes; homes our country needs.
“The number of people aged over 85 and over is expected to double before 2050. More and more people are living with a disability each year.
“When only 13% of homes in England meet accessibility criteria that helps make a home visitable for most people, it’s clear we have a long way to go to put things right.
“It’s important the Government gives clarity on its position on the 'M4(2)' standard of building regulations and sets out what it is doing to work with industry to take forward this work.”
