Planning should care, but does it?
Is specialist elderly accommodation keeping pace with the South West's ageing population?
The early 2023 consultation as part of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill proposing reforms to national planning policy, along with publication of the 2021 Census data, has refocused minds on the important issue of an ageing population and the urgent need to provide more specialist accommodation for older people. The draft has a specific expectation that, in ensuring needs of older people are met, particular regard is given to retirement housing, housing with care and care homes. This differs from current policy, which does not set the expectation for retirement housing or housing with care to be incorporated when calculating need. The draft National Planning Policy Framework therefore expressly supports the supply of older people’s housing.
The urgency of addressing this has been stressed by a report by the BPF and Cushman & Wakefield (Housing for an Ageing Population) with recommendations for the Government’s now launched Housing for Older People Taskforce. The statistics are clear; there are only enough senior housing units to cater for 5.6% of the current over-65 population, with that demographic due to grow by 31% by 2040. The BPF therefore recommends a target of 50,000 new seniors’ housing units to be delivered each year.
In 2019, Lichfields produced the Insight Focus ‘Solutions to an age old problem in the South West’, which explored the planning policy context for older people’s housing in the region. This concluded that far more needed to be done to positively plan for this demographic, with new and revised Local Plans coming forward in the region offering valuable opportunities for the development industry to engage with policy makers and champion a step change in the delivery of homes for older people.
Four years on, and in the context of this current Government spotlight, this Insight Focus explores what change, if any, has or is occurring in policy, plan making and supply, to help bridge the gap between elderly accommodation provision and an ever-increasing elderly population within the context of a deepening national housing crisis. It also considers where the potential opportunities lie in promoting and better supporting this type of housing through the planning system.
