Almost half of councils have no elderly housing plans

Almost half of councils do not have a clear policy or site allocation for elderly accommodation, research reveals. A survey from Irwin Mitchell found 147 local authorities (45%) do not have a policy or any land allocated for future housing for their ageing populations. It is an improvement from the 203 councils which did not have policies or sites in the law firm’s 2017 study. Some 87 councils (26%) which have a policy do not have any specific sites and 51 councils (16%) have sites but no credible policy. Just 44 councils (13%) reported having both the policy and sites to support housing provision for the elderly compared with 32 (9.7%) two years ago. Irwin Mitchell said the councils that were equipped to support the elderly were spread across the UK and tended to be in urban areas. Aylesbury Vale, Brent, St Albans, Stevenage, Wakefield and Wellingborough councils all developed policy and identified sites in the two years. The law firm said there was little correlation between wealth or demographic and local authority readiness. Carl Dyer, head of planning at Irwin Mitchell, said: “Too many councils are still not making adequate provisions in their local plans for retirement housing or care homes though having both clear policies and allocating sites. “Our findings are evidence of the appalling failure of local authorities to plan for such a demographic shift.” Dyer said the lack of policy and site allocations means developers face challenges in gaining planning consent as they are forced to justify the departure from the local plan. He said: “This is exactly the sort of long-term demographic trend that the planning system should be capable of planning for; and we are not doing it. It is time for both central and local government to take the demographic shift seriously and start planning at the very basic local plan level for our ageing population.”   To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @estatesgazette