Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Deferred
Paragraph: 29
Expedite M4(2) technical consultation process by BSR and Department, publishing responses quickly.
Recommendation
It is imperative that the Government’s M4(2) policy commitment is now implemented as soon as possible. If this is not done, thousands of disabled people will continue to be left with their housing needs unmet. Accordingly, we recommend that: • The BSR should launch the technical consultation immediately with an expedited timeline that is made public; • The BSR and the Department should allocate additional resources to ensure that the consultation response is published within a maximum of six weeks of the consultation closing date, rather than the planned 12 weeks; and • The BSR should complete the full technical consultation process within four months, rather than the six months currently planned.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government rejects requiring local authorities to report on new builds completed to M4(2) and M4(3) standards due to imposing a new burden, and it does not address the specific recommendations to expedite the M4(2) technical consultation timeline.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
29
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
9. We note that this recommendation relates specifically to a commitment made by the previous government. This government is committed to ensuring that our housing market works for everyone, including disabled people. We recognise that the accessibility of new build homes, and accessibility standards for buildings in general, present challenges for many disabled people. We are working with the construction sector to introduce updated standards in several areas of the Building Regulations and, as part of this ongoing work, we want to ensure that people are able to live in homes that meet their particular needs. The government intends to set out its policies on the accessibility of new homes in the near future and will provide details about necessary technical consultation when we do so. LUHC Select Committee Report conclusion: We support the Minister for Housing and Homelessness’s call for local authorities to assess their local need for M4(3) wheelchair user standard homes. However, we do not believe that the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) goes far enough to match this ambition.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗