My Lords, I too want to speak in support of Amendment 19, which I welcome enthusiastically for two reasons. First, I believe that it signals important progress for the Government to propose their own amendment specifying that the Secretary of State must issue guidance which requires local planning authorities to,
“address housing needs that result from old age or disability”.
This is surely common sense. On the one hand, as the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, has already argued very persuasively, demographics show that we are an increasingly ageing society. On the other hand, thanks to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and subsequent disability rights legislation passed by your Lordships’ House, disabled people increasingly, and rightly, want and expect to be able to live independently. The supply of more accessible housing is essential to them realising that goal.
Therefore, it makes sense to plan for the future now, in the present. This amendment simply reflects that reality. However, in my view, it does more than that, which is my second reason for welcoming it. It also has real symbolic—even radical, as the noble Baroness said—significance because it underlines the importance of inclusion not just on paper but in practice and, crucially, on an anticipatory basis.
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Noble Lords may know that I recently supported Amendment 173 to the Policing and Crime Bill precisely because I saw it as an ideal opportunity to uphold the
anticipatory nature of the duty to make reasonable adjustments enshrined in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. That amendment related to ensuring that disabled people could access licensed premises. As noble Lords will know, that amendment was rejected, but the Government’s amendment to this Bill gives me hope that some Ministers none the less recognise the importance of anticipating the need for accessible environments—in this case, in housing—and, crucially, ensuring that they are actually provided. I thank my noble friend and the Minister in the other place, Gavin Barwell, for their commendable combination of pragmatism and practicality in drafting the amendment and for listening to Heidi Allen, who has done brilliant work on this issue in the other place.
I very much hope that the Secretary of State will involve disabled and older people’s organisations closely in both initial development and regular reviews of the guidance for local planning authorities. I also hope that other departments may follow the example of anticipatory action which the amendment sets.